Shnovak
by Cypher113
Summary: When an agent from the FBI is transferred to Manhattan's SVU under mysterious circumstances, Casey has a funny feeling about him. Is she right, or will he prove her wrong?
1. All In That Suit That You Wear

**All In That Suit That You Wear (I)**

Casey knew that she'd hate him the second he walked in the door.

The way he held himself, it was like he had cockiness oozing out of every pour. And that God-awful crooked smile; she wanted to tear it right off his face.

How's that for a first impression?

"Casey!" Don Cragen called over to her. Her heart sank; she didn't want to meet this guy, he just gave her a funny feeling. But she put on a happy face and bravely walked over. "I don't think you've met the newest member of our team before."

"Supervisory Special Agent Silas Shag, FBI." He said, holding out his hand. He had some sort of accent, definitely southern, she just couldn't tell where he was from. "Pleased to meet you, ma'am."

"ADA Casey Novak." She said shaking it. "Nice to meet you too."

"I don't think we've ever worked together before," he said, "Last I was here was… Geeze… 2002?"

"Yes, it's been a while, Silas." Cragen smiled, putting a hand on Silas' shoulder. "We're glad you're back."

"Thank you, sir." He turned back to Casey, "I look forward to working together."

Casey fake smiled, "As am I." As soon as he saw Elliot and Olivia walk through the door, he smiled again and went to go talk to them. Casey breathed a sigh of relief and bolted for the coffee.

Munch was standing over there, sipping his own coffee. "Hello, Counselor, I'm glad to see you have met the man that is going to make all of our jobs a hell of a lot easier."

Casey looked back at the fed, disgust on her face. "Why? What's so special about him?"

Munch was taken aback by her hostility to Shag. "Because he comes to us directly from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit."

"But we already have Huang; why do we have to have this guy?"

"This guy does field work like it's his job; Huang can't. Besides its double the ammunition we have against serial offenders. "

"I just have a funny feeling about this guy."

"Hey, you were new kid on the block at one point in time. If you don't like him then at least tolerate him."

"But he's so… Cocky…"

"I'd be too; he's got more experience under his belt at working with serial killers and criminal minds then all of us in this room combined. He even learned how to read micro-expressions from the guy who discovered them!"

Casey looked him over; he didn't look like he should be as good as Munch said he was. He looked like he was in his early thirties; he was lean, built enough but not too much. He almost looked like a runner. His skin was pale, his hair black, and his eyes looked like sapphires. If she didn't already loathe him so much, she might have thought he was attractive.

"Casey," She looked over at Munch, "He really is a good guy."

"I'll work with him," Casey said, picking up her briefcase, "But I won't like it."

XXX

As the weeks dragged on into months, Casey really started to hate him. He was so cocky, but no one else seemed to even care. It was like they were oblivious. Soon the two of them started getting into fights about stupid things, like lack of evidence or the type of offender. They drove each other up the wall.

"I don't understand!" Casey vented to Huang one day. "Why do we even need another consultant? Don't you feel a bit… benched? You're second-string now!"

"Not really," he said, "Silas is renowned in the psychiatric community; I'm happy to be working with him."

"Then why is someone like him in SVU? Why isn't he out hunting serial killers instead of aggravating me?"

Huang paused. "There were some rumors going around…"

Casey perked up. "What kind?"

"His last case, he was attacked by the man he was trying to catch. No one has all the details though. This must be like a break for him though, and I can't say that I blame him… I heard he almost died."

Not the kind of rumors she wanted to hear. "It doesn't matter. He still is picking fights with me…"

"Are you sure it's not the other way around?"

Casey was seething now. "Listen," she grabbed he coat, "I'm done, since I am clearly the enemy in this situation."

"We're all on the same team, Casey."

"Yeah, sure, whatever." And without another word, she stormed out, leaving Huang smiling. Silas Shag wasn't the only one who could read people's emotions.


	2. Poker Face

**Title:** Shnovak

**Fandom:** Law and Order: SVU

**Pairing:** Casey/OC

**Rating:** T for now, probably up it later to M for language and sexual situations…

**Spoilers:** "Raw", "Ghost", "Blinded", "Influence", I can't think of the rest…

**Disclaimers:** They belong to Dick Wolf, not Cypher…

**AN:** Well, obviously, I'm a noob. Just thought I'd make that clear. I thought there would be a nice little box for this stuff right here, and I can't seem to figure out how to put this all on chapter one… Oh well, chapter two gets posted early!

Also, most of this just started off as a huge collection of one-shots so some chapters are mad long, some are mad short, so… uhh… yeah. Reviews are nice.

XXX

**Poker Face (II)**

About 6 months later

It was so hot. Why was it so hot? The 1-6 was like a sauna, and Casey just wanted to get back to her air conditioned office. She jumped in an empty elevator, and pressed the ground floor button. The doors were sliding shut when a hand poked through and the doors opened again to let a man in.

Of course. Silas Shag. Great.

"Counselor." He said curtly, not looking at her.

"Agent." She said smugly. "How's your ego?" She was referencing the ADA verses detectives softball game the detectives had lost.

"Probably not as bad as your leg." He said without missing a beat. Casey had been hit by a pitch, and now had a large bruise on her thigh. She held her tongue, though.

A second later, the elevator jerked and went black. Casey screamed and Silas' hand dropped to his service piece. The emergency lights came on a second after that.

"What the hell is going on?" Casey demanded.

"I know just as much as you do, so hang on!" Silas pressed the ground floor button. Nothing happened. "Power outage." He grabbed an edge of the door and pulled. "Help me."

Casey grabbed the other edge and they both pulled. Nothing.

"Damn." Silas hissed. "Guess we're suck here until someone gets the power back on." He removed his tie and sat down. "Might as well get comfortable."

Casey let out a small moan and kicked off her heels. The worst part of it all was that it was still hot.

XXX

Thirty minutes had passed, and they hadn't said a word to each other. Silas had remove his shirt and undershirt, revealing his (Casey had to admit) fine looking body.

Casey was so hot, but she didn't want to follow suit and take off her shirt. She didn't want to give him any ideas.

"I won't look." He said so quietly, she almost didn't hear him. She looked over at him; he was a mess and Casey knew she didn't look any better.

"Yes you will." She shot back without even thinking.

He looked her right in the eyes; his gaze almost scared her. "Why don't you like me, Casey?"

It was the first time she had even heard him call her by name. "You're cocky, you think that you rule the world, but you don't."

"I never said that."

"You didn't have to."

He smiled a bit and leaned back. "You're trying to beat me at my own game. Profiling the profiler."

"No I'm not."

"Oh yes you are." He laughed. "To bad you're wrong."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I'm not cocky, just charismatic." Casey rolled her eyes at this. "But you, my friend, you seem to not like me at all, for no reason. Why is that, eh?"

"I just told you-"

"No you didn't," Silas stood up, "You don't like me, because I'm the new kid on the block and you need someone to pick on to make yourself look even bigger and badder then you really are. The sophomoric complex."

"Not true!" Casey was standing now.

"You should have seen your face when I mentioned Alex Cabot!" He pointed to her eyebrows. "Anger! You want to be accepted like Alex was accepted."

"Ok, so what if you're right?" Casey yelled at him, "Why did you keep provoking me? Huh? Why'd you go along with it?"

"To teach you a lesson," he said taking a step closer to her, so their noses almost touched. "You play with fire, you'll get burned."

"Yeah," Casey said, "Or maybe there was something else?"

"Maybe there is."

"What is it?"

Silence. Then it happened. They grabbed each other and kissed the other like the world was ending, their tongues battling for dominance. Silas pushed her against the wall, and undoing the buttons of her blouse. Casey was running her hands over his body, and threw one of her legs around his hip.

Then there was a lurch and they were both thrown down, Casey landing on top of Silas, both of them breathing heavily, green eyes meeting blue. In an instant they both scrambled to put back on clothing, make themselves look presentable. _Bing_.

The doors opened and they walked out into the lobby where their team and a bunch of ESU were waiting.

"Here's some water." Was the first thing someone said to them, handing them both bottles of ice cold water.

"You two look like hell!" Elliot said, as they both downed the waters.

"Thanks, El." Silas said sarcastically.

"Thank God you two didn't kill each other." Olivia said.

"We were about to." Casey said. "I should go, my boss is probably wondering where I am."

"ESU should check you out first." Cragen said. "Although you two don't look as bad as the rookie who came out of the last one."

"I'm fine; I need to go back to my office…" Casey said.

"Both of your bosses called; you both get the rest of the day off." Cragen told them. "Go home and take a cold shower."

"Will do." Silas said with a smile.

They both left at the same time, and as soon as she was sure that no one on their team was around, she slid him a piece of paper. "Please come." Was all she said before she kept walking and hailed her own cab.

Silas looked at the address and put it in his pocket, and then smiled at her fleeting figure.

XXX

So, I know this chapter was a bit awkward, but whatever. It'll get better.

Also, if you have yet to notice, I name the chapters after songs, or song lyrics, that I feel fit the mood of the chapter or section of the story. Chapter I was "All in That Suit That Suit That You Wear" by Stone Temple Pilots, and this time its "Poker Face" the Glee version. Yeah, I know, I know, I just enjoyed it. Sue me.

Reviews are nice. :)


	3. Check This Hand, 'Cause I'm Marvelous

So, I know this chapter's kind of short and MAD sappy, but, hey! I'm a hopeless romantic!

**Check This Hand, 'Cause I'm Marvelous (III)**

Silas Shag hadn't been this nervous in a long time. He raised his fist to knock, but stopped. Should he? The sexual tension between them was strong, but he didn't want this to be some stupid fling like all of his other relationships.

He inhaled, and then knocked. Five… Four… Three… Two…

The door opened, and Casey stood there, smiling at him. They are both wearing jeans. Neither had seen the other wearing jeans before this.

"Hey." Casey said, giving him a small smile.

"Hi." Silas smiled back.

"Come in, come in." Casey ushered him in and led him into her kitchen. "Wine?"

Silas really wasn't a wine kind of guy, but he was going to suck it up for her. "Yes, please."

She poured them both a glass, and motioned for him to sit at the table. He did and Casey sat across from him.

They were silent for a moment. "About today," Silas said at last. "I hope you're not going to be filing sexual harassment charges against me." The joke was terrible, and Silas knew it.

"No, of course not." Casey laughed a bit. "It's just I…" she paused and Silas cocked an eyebrow at her. "I want to try again."

"Try what again?"

She held out her hand. "Hi, my name's Casey Novak."

He smiled, took her hand, and brushed her knuckles against his lips. It sent shivers down Casey's spine. "Silas Shag. Pleased to meet you ma'am."

His accent, coupled with this old-fashioned gesture, made her giggle a bit.

"Now I want to try something again."

"What?"

"The kiss, it was a bit… rough." He stood up, still holding her hand, pulling Casey to her feet as well.

"It was," Casey said, loving the tender way he held her hand as he pulled her closer. "We could try it again though."

Silas smiled, as he pulled her body flush against his. He put his hand behind her head and pressed his lips to hers. Casey, as cliché as it was, saw fireworks as soon as their lips touched. Silas licked the seam of her lips asking for entrance which she only too happily granted him. The kiss smoldered, and soon, Silas had to move his hands from her hair to her hips to steady her trembling body. Casey's hands were moving all over his body trying to pull him closer.

He then released her lips and moved to her jaw and then down to her neck, which caused her to release a throaty moan. "Bedroom." She gasped.

He stopped and looked at her. "Are you sure?"

"If the elevator hadn't come back to life at that moment, we would have screwed each other's brains out anyway. Besides," she kissed him again, "I need you."

He smiled wickedly, and in one swift motion, he had her legs wrapped around his waist, and carried her to the bedroom. "Need," he said dropping her on the bed, "Is a very strong word, Counselor." He pulled his shirt over his head, "Are you sure you need me?"

Casey smiled up at him. "Well the let me show you, exactly how much I need you."

XXX

"Wow." was all Casey said after their love-making.

"Wow is right." Silas looked over at her and smiled. Her strawberry blonde hair was mused, cheeks rosy, and smiling back at him. Silas' black hair was sticking up in every which direction and Casey loved the smile he had on right now.

"You look beautiful right now." Silas said it without even thinking.

Casey flushed a deeper shade of red. "Thank you." She yawned.

"Tired?"

"Yeah."

"Go to sleep then." He made a move to get up, "I should go."

Casey reached over and touched his arm. "Or you could stay."

Silas smiled his thanks. "Or I could stay." He pulled the sheets up again. "Hey Casey?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ho-hold you?" The way he tripped over the words broke her heart.

She didn't say anything; she just rolled closer to him and snuggled up to his chest. Silas wrapped his arms around her slim frame, and she fell asleep to the sound of his heart.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I'm a sucker for fluff. Reviews are nice though.


	4. Glitter In The Air

This chapter is mostly back story on Mr. Shag, so everyone can see just how cool he is :)

**Glitter In The Air (IV)**

Casey's eyes fluttered open the next morning, sun beams pouring into the room. She felt something caressing her back, and it was at that moment that she remembered the events from last night.

She looked up and gave Silas a sleepy smile. "Good morning." He whispered.

"Hi." She reached up and kissed him. She felt his hand move from her back to her cheek.

"Hungry?"

"A bit."

"Ok, I'll go make us something."

"Oh, no," Casey tried to get up, but his strong arms held her in place. "It's my place, I'll cook you something."

"No, I was raised as a gentleman, so I'll cook you something." He kissed her into submission, and then slid out of bed. Casey closed her eyes again and heard Silas sifting through their discarded clothes to find his boxers. Soon she heard the griddle, which she never used, going and then the smell of homemade French toast.

Casey grudgingly rolled out of bed, and grabbed her robe. She made her way into the kitchen and sat down at the table, where a steaming plate of French toast was set in front of her. "Wow, this looks good. I didn't know I even had enough food in the house to make this."

"Probably not as good as my mom's." Silas shrugged and sat down. "I'm also very resourceful."

She took a bite. "Wow, these are fantastic! I didn't know you could cook!"

"We'll since all we knew about each other is based off of gut feelings and unanswered sexual tension, it'd be a safe bet to say there's a lot we don't know about each other." He took a bite of his own toast. He seemed to be debating with himself over something.

"Penny for your thoughts?" She asked.

Silas inhaled. "Casey, I want to tell you something."

"What?"

"I don't sleep. I have very severe insomnia, because what I do, it's all I see at night. But last night, with you in my arms, I slept, for the first time in a long time. I want to thank you first off."

She smiled and put her hand over his. "Glad I could help."

He smiled back. "I loved waking up with you, and I want every morning to be like that; all of my previously relationships have been just stupid flings. Nothing solid. I don't want to make that mistake again. I don't want this to be a quick fuck every now and then. I want this to be something." He leaned in and lowered his voice a bit. "Casey, I like you, a lot. That's why I'm taking you out tonight. For dinner."

Casey's mouth unhinged. "Oh my God, Silas… Thank you…"

Soon they were kissing again and back in the bedroom, and then last thing Casey could remember before her mind was blown was "No, thank you…"

XXX

Look nice. That was all he said before he ran out the door, after they screwed each other's brains out for a bit. He didn't specify though; was it cocktail dress nice, casual nice, formal nice? Casey decided to go with a black dress that stopped above her knee that accented her curves and the paleness of her skin.

It was still blowing her mind how she went from hating Silas to going on a date with him within twenty-four hours.

Seven o' clock sharp she heard a knock. It was a cops' knock so it was either him or one of the detectives. She hoped it was the earlier.

She opened the door and smiled at the goofy grin on his face. He wore black slacks, a white shirt, black suit jacket that brushed his knees, and a dark red tie.

"Hi." He said, smiling.

"Hi."

"You look gorgeous." He said looking her over.

"Thank you." She smiled, getting butterflies in her stomach. No man had made her feel like this in a long time.

"Ready?" Silas held out his arm, Casey took it, and he led her away from the apartment.

XXX

The restaurant was classy to say the least. Extravagant at the most. Romantic for sure. The lights were dimmed, candles on every table, and to many couples to count.

"Mr. Shag." An old waiter came up to them. "Good to see you."

"You as well Maurice." Silas smiled. "I have reservations."

"I see." Maurice looked at Casey. "Good evening, Ms…"

"Novak."

"Ms. Novak." He motioned for them to come along. "Right this way." Maurice led them to a secluded table in the back for two. When they got there, Silas pulled out a chair for Casey to sit in; it showed just how much of a gentleman he was. It must be because he was from the South.

"Drinks?" Maurice asked when they were both seated.

"The usual." Silas said.

"Uh…" Casey looked at the thick leather-bound book of drinks.

"I recommend the Barbaresco '54." Maurice said.

"I don't think I can afford it."

"Good thing you're not paying." Silas said. "Get whatever you want."

Casey looked at him sharply; he just smiled. "Fine."

"I will return with your drinks shortly." Maurice bowed a bit, and then left.

They were quiet as he left. "I don't know if I should be scared you're such a regular, that you have a usual drink and the waiter knows your name."

"Used to." Silas corrected. "When my mother would come up here to visit, I would always take her here; this was her favorite restaurant to come to with my dad, when they were up north." He chuckled a bit. "Don't fret, there's no competition."

"Used to?"

Silas looked away. "Yeah, she died last year… Breast cancer."

Casey was immediately sorry she had said anything. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. You didn't know."

Maurice returned with their drinks. A beautiful looking red wine was set in front of Casey; a glass of whiskey that looked like liquid topaz was set in front of Silas. "I'll be back for your orders soon." And with a small bow he left them again.

Silas took a sip of his drink, savoring it. "Magnificent."

Casey took a sip of her drink. It was easily the best wine she had ever had. "This is fantastic, but these probably cost more than I make in a week. How can you afford this?"

He smiled mysteriously. "I usually don't tell girls this on the first date, but you're special."

"Why thank you."

"My great-great-grandfather," Silas began dramatically. "Was Samuel Colt."

Casey choked on her drink. "What?" This was a shock; sure his suits looked expensive, but he never made any mention of his wealth, hell, he even drove a Crown Vic like any other detective!

"Yup." Silas smiled again, "His son had a few kids, including my grandfather who worked for Colt as a designer. He made a few million off patents, inherited some money, invested in good stocks, made some more money, then moved down south and retired in New Orleans where he married and had my mom before his wife died."

"No way." New Orleans? Explained how she could tolerate his accent more than any other Southern accent. His voice was like honey or velvet.

"Way. When my mom died I got twenty-five million. Gave ten to cancer research. Five to the staff of our estate down south to keep it running. Five to myself to live up here, pay for my masters and the Ph.D. I plan to get eventually. Last five I put away for a rainy day."

"That's going to be one hell of a rainy day." Casey mumbled taking a sip of her wine. "Why do you even work then?"

"Do what you like and like what you do." Silas said "I don't like golf that much so I'd just be sitting on my ass the rest of my life, and I wouldn't enjoy that too much." He took another sip of his whiskey. "I hope this doesn't change anything. Some girls chase after me for my rainy day fund."

"Oh no," Casey giggled, "I was already hooked on the sex."

"Why thank you." He smiled.

"So why aren't you with the FBI right now? Why SVU?" She remembered her conversation with Huang, about why he was even here.

"Uh… I needed a break." Something flashed on his face. "I had a tough case, then my mom died, then Katrina happened, so I was down south helping out, and when I got back I couldn't focus. My supervisor said I needed a break before I lost it."

"I see." Casey wanted to ask him about the case, but now wasn't the time. "Why did you join the FBI? Why the BAU?"

"My dad was on the original team, the team that started it." Silas said. "Good guy, got stationed in New Orleans on a serial case, when he met my mom. A dirt-poor Scottish guy fell in love with one the richest ladies in the South. They were a cute couple. My dad made sure I was raised right, made sure I knew my how Grandpa Shag had come to America with nothing but the clothes on his back, made sure I worked for things, unlike the brats in the aristocratic circle I grew up with."

"Does your dad still live down south?"

Silas chuckled. "You could say that."

"Huh?"

"He died about three months after I was born. Captured and tortured by a serial killer, for seven hours before he killed him ad left his body in a shallow grave."

Casey felt like such an idiot. Twice in one night! "I'm-"

"Sorry? Casey, don't be." He touched her hand. "What about your parents?"

"They're not as interesting as your family, but, my mom's third generation Irish-American. Tough as nails."

"I can see who you take after."

Casey blushed. "My dad's a Czech immigrant who served in Vietnam as a door gunner on a Huey. Got a Purple Heart, for his valor."

"See! Neither of my parents got medals! That's much more interesting than my family." He smiled, as if at an inside joke. "Our dads would have either loved each other, or hated each other."

"Why?"

"My dad was a huge hippie."

"Seriously? A federal agent who's also a hippie?"

"Yeah, he had the long hair, beard, even went to Woodstock. That's where they met, my parents, on the New Orleans hippie scene. He hated wearing suits, but loved catching the bad guys. After his brother was killed in Vietnam, he was at every anti-war rally within a hundred mile radius."

"Interesting."

"So, less about my life, more about yours." Silas leaned in, "Why a prosecutor?"

Casey shrugged. "I liked the idea of putting scumbags in prison."

"I heard you originally didn't want to be SVU."

Casey looked down at her wine, tracing the lip of the glass with her index finger. "Yeah…"

"You have a hard time with victims, huh?"

"Yeah… a bit." She liked how she could tell him these things. "I wanted to be homicide. All the glory, no living victims."

Before he could even answer, Casey saw Silas look to the left a bit. "May I take your orders?" Casey almost choked on her drink again when she heard Maurice's voice. She hadn't even seen him come back.

"The usual." Silas said.

Casey picked up the thick menu, and hoped one day she would have a usual.

XXX

Silas didn't even mention staying the night again, as he escorted Casey up to her apartment; she liked that a lot. He was the greatest date she had in a long time.

They got to her door; she unlocked it, and stepped inside. "I had a really good time." She said smiling up at Silas.

"I did too." He returned the smile. "You know… we should probably keep this a secret."

"From who?"

"Our co-workers. For now. I don't know if dating at work is allowed."

"Oh yeah, of course."

"Ok." He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "Good night."

It was over much too soon for Casey's tastes, so she grabbed him and pulled him back for a more passionate kiss. Without giving him enough time to even process what had happened, she pulled him inside, and slammed the door closed behind them.

So, I know that isn't Samuel Colt's kid's actual background, but whatever. I want Mr. Shag to have a kick ass back story. I also didn't want him to be a rich brat, just rich, but I'll get more into that later…

INSPEAKING OF BACK STORY! Anyone catch the BAU reference? Maybe some of our favorite profilers will be dropping in later… ;)

Lastly, I may or may not be upping the rating soon, so just be aware. Reviews are nice…


	5. Clutchin' My Coffee… Callin' Me Sugar

Well, I had some free time today, so I decided I'd get this one up. Two chapters in one day! I'm spoiling all of you rotten…

This is one of those short little fluffy one shot chapters that make you wanna go "Awwww, they are so darn cute!" Also, some more backstory on our favorite Federal Agent (Sorry, Huang, we still love you).

**Clutchin' My Coffee… Callin' Me Sugar (V)**

A Few Weeks Later

Casey awoke to the sound of a pencil scratching lightly on a piece of paper.

She was lying on her stomach, so she went to push herself up but a cool hand placed itself on her back and gently pushed her back down.

"Don't move." Silas' cool voice said.

Casey let out a small groan and opened one eye to look at him. He was sitting against the headboard of his bed, a sketch book in his right hand, a charcoal pencil in his left. "What are you doing?" Casey asked sleepily.

"Drawing."

"Me?"

"Yep."

Casey closed her eyes again. "Since when have you been into art?"

"Since my mom took me to visit Italy when I was about five." Silas responded. "My first sketch was of _The School of Athens_. There was a cardinal examining the piece when I was sketching it and he exclaimed, 'My goodness! This boy is the next Raphael!' He bought the sketch off me for thirty euros."

Casey almost shot up to look at him. "Wow."

Silas nodded glancing down at her for a second, and then returned to his work. "Yeah, if I hadn't wanted to be an agent for the FBI, I probably would have gone onto something in art or music."

"You're a musician too?"

"Yep. I play guitar, piano, bass, violin, organ, almost any kind of saxophone, bagpipes, harmonica, lute, harp, banjo, cello, and fiddle.

"That's ridiculous. You're ridiculous."

"My mom said I could have been a one man orchestra."

"I would pay money to see that that."

She heard him chuckle. For a moment all that could be heard was the sound of the pencil scratching lightly across the paper.

Casey broke the silence. "A cardinal did not buy a sketch from you, when you were five." Casey deduced, after mulling over the scenario. "That's impossible."

"You're right. It wasn't a cardinal."

"For someone whose job it is to detect lies, you're an awful liar. Who was it?"

"It was the pope's personal secretary. And he paid me fifty euros. Told me he was going to give it to the pope."

"Wow." Casey sighed. "Must've been great."

"Having my mediocre sketch in the pope's private collection?"

"No. Being so privileged. Being so rich. Getting to go to all those fantastic places, being so cultured, and meeting all of these amazing kinds of people."

Silas chuckled. "I didn't act like a rich brat, my every whim and need tended to every minute of every day. I actually went to public school, and no one there knew of my status, not even my best friends. I bought my first car with the money I earned busing tables."

"Why would you want to do that?" Casey asked, trying to hide her surprise. "I had to wait tables to put myself through college! It sucked!"

"Do you remember how I said my dad was a dirt poor Scottish guy?"

"Yeah."

"Before he died, he told my mom that he wanted me to know where he came from, where the Shags came from; he made sure I worked to get what I wanted. My mom may have taken me around the world and cultured me like a true aristocrat, but she made sure I worked like a blue collar kid. I was basically part of the Colt Mansion staff."

Silas leaned back, cracking his neck.

Casey made a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a snort. "You were raised like a blue collar kid. No manners around a lady."

"My mom's probably turning in her grave; my dad may have wanted me raised like I was in the working class, but my mom wanted me to have the etiquette of an aristocrat."

"The prince pretending to be a pauper."

"You could say that."

They both chuckled a bit.

After a little while, Silas set down the pencil. "Done."

"Finally." Casey rolled over and stretched.

"You can't complain, you were asleep for most of it. You want to see it?" He offered her the sketch book.

When she saw the image, she gasped a bit. It looked so beautiful, like something drawn by a master, even down to the life-like way the sheets were pooled around her waist. The sleeping figure looked like a goddess, her hair splayed out across the pillow, skin flawless, face innocent and beautiful. This wasn't just a drawing of her body; it was what Silas thought about her.

"Do you like it?" Silas asked at last.

"Yeah," Casey couldn't tear her eyes away from the picture. "It's… wow."

"Glad you like it." Silas smiled, taking the sketchbook back. "You want me to make some breakfast?"

Casey smiled, taking the sketchbook out of his hands and placing it on the bedside table. "I can think of a few other things I'd like you to do first." She purred, straddling his hips, and kissing his neck.

"Mhm, I can think of a few things too." He was the last thing he murmured before he captured her lips.

I know, mad short, and I'm basically just reiterating the backstory from the last chapter, but I did throw a few more things in and some FLUFF. I know, I know, I know, lots of instruments, but I mean, come on! He's a rich stud from New Orleans! And did anyone pick up the fact that he's a lefty? I love lefties, is that weird?

Whatever. Reviews are nice. :)


	6. Highland's Apparition

**NOTE: **Spoilers for 'Raw' in this one! We all know what's goin' down here… Le gasp!

**Highland's Apparition (VI)**

About 12 months later

"Counselor, I need to speak with you for a moment." Silas said to Casey when she had stepped out of the interrogation room, after making a deal with a skin-head named Redding to get him to flip on Brian Ackerman.

"Use my office." Cragen said not looking at either of them. "Just don't kill each other."

"We'll play nice." Silas said turning on his heels. After spending so much time with him, she had begun to pick up some of his tricks; he looked pissed, but was doing a good job of controlling it.

He stormed into the office. Casey leaned in the doorway, keeping her body language neutral. "You wanted to speak, Agent?"

"Casey, close the door." He said his voice low. She did, and then leaned against the door.

"What?"

Silas crossed his arms. "You know what."

Casey went into prosecutor mode. "No I don't know; enlighten me."

"Why'd you go in there, alone? If not with me, then Cragen, or Stabler, or Liv, or anyone!" Silas hissed.

Casey's brows furrowed in anger at him. "Why do I need a babysitter all of a sudden? Jealous of a skin-head?" She snapped right back at him.

" 'We'd make petty white babies together'." Silas said doing a fantastic impression of Redding. "I don't like it when perps… hit on you!"

"Oh, so you think I enjoy being hit on by a child-killing racist?"

"No, Casey, it's just…" he rubbed his temples. "I care about you, and I just didn't like how you were alone in there with that creep. I mean, you're… beautiful, and I don't want a slimebag like that to get any ideas."

"Oh, so now you're saying that I can't handle myself?"

"I never said that."

"Not explicitly."

"Casey, please." He wanted to touch her so badly, but the blinds were open. "I care about you, ok?"

She sighed at last. "Fine, but you're making it up to me."

"Dinner tonight ok?"

"Of course."

"Alright." He gave her the quickest of smiles. "See you tonight then. Maurice'll be glad to know you finally have a usual."

XXX

Two Days Later

Silas was steaming. For multiple reasons. First off, Judge Skyler was an idiot. He denied the plea deal that Casey had put in place to get Redding to flip on Ackerman. Now during Ackerman's trial, Silas could see just how much Skyler was on edge; there was so much contempt on his face for everyone involved with the Neo-Nazi group, from Ackerman himself even down to Moredock. He wasn't even trying to hide it.

Secondly, his talk with Casey about not going to talk to Redding by herself seemed to have gone in one ear and out the other. He might have not known about it, if Stabler hadn't mentioned it to him when they had been going over paperwork later that night. When Casey called him later, asking if he wanted to come over, no matter how sexy she looked today in that courtroom, hair done up like that, his favorite red silk blouse revealing some of her alabaster skin, and pencil skirt hugging her bum, he told her he had things to do.

Silas, who had been too busy thinking about all these things, had been barely paying attention to the proceedings. He was instead scanning the crowd of people. Star Morrison was sitting near Kyle Ackerman. Silas and Star made eye contact for a second, and then looked away.

"Race traitor!" Kyle Ackerman screamed, pulling out a gun, and pulling off a shot, that whizzed by Casey's head, and struck Redding in the chest. Silas, Munch, and Stabler, all stood up pulling out their service pieces, trying to distinguish shooters from panicking civilians. At first, Silas thought he saw another detective, and was shocked to see him shoot Munch. Elliot shot him, as Silas found Kyle up by the prosecution desk.

He had Casey. Silas' vision went red for a moment.

"Let her go!" Silas bellowed. _God, there's no shot, he's using Casey as a meat shield, I can't shoot him, what if it hits her… _Silas' thoughts were racing, his heart was pounding. Kyle aimed his gun at Silas now, but Casey was able to elbow him, so when he squeezed off a round, it missed Silas' chest and hit him in the thigh.

Silas dropped his gun, and fell to the floor, clutching his bleeding leg. More shots and screams. Silas hadn't prayed in a very long time, but right now he was praying, _Dear God, please keep Casey safe, please keep her safe… _

There were more shots, he thought he heard Elliot scream, and then he heard Kyle say something, but he couldn't make out when he was saying, everything was getting fuzz, the lights of the ceiling were coming in and out of focus…

Another shot. "Federal agent! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" He heard Star shout.

A few feet away Casey rolled over, and crawled towards the seats behind the prosecution desk. She heard a moan that she recognized. She saw Silas lying there in a pool of blood, teeth clenched, eyes closed, and holding onto his leg.

"Silas, Silas, Silas." She said, kneeling over him, stroking his face. "I'm here ok?"

He opened his eyes; they were hazy. "Casey?" He reached up and touched her face, unaware that he was getting blood all over her.

"Silas," she removed her jacket and pressed it to the wound. "We need to keep pressure on it."

"I was so scared…" he said, and pulled her down to kiss her. "I actually prayed. Can you believe that? First time in years… Guess the big man heard me, because you're ok…"

"I'm ok, I'm ok, I'm ok." She could feel the blood seeping into her jacket through her trembling fingers. "Just stay with me, ok?"

"I can do that." He looked so out of it.

A few EMTs came over to her. "He's bleeding too much for a thigh wound." Casey said, not wanting to let go of him.

"Probably just hit an artery, he'll be fine thanks to you." One of them said to her. Another EMT pulled her away from Silas so the others could help him. "We should get you checked out, ma'am."

"No, no, no." she shook her head. "I just want to stay with him."

"He'll be ok." the EMT pulled her away, out of the courtroom, out onto the steps and into an ambulance.

XXX

I know, Silas was playing the over protective boyfriend here for a little bit, but hey, if I was him, I'd be freakin' out if some skinhead was telling my girlfriend that they'd make pretty white babies together.

But back to the story. Cue bad soap opera music.

Will Silas make it? What will be the fate of our young star-crossed lovers? Will one of them have to transfer out of SVU? WILL LASSIE SAVE THE BOY IN THE WELL? Tune in next time to find out! And if you want me to post it faster, you may or may not want to write those reviews.


	7. I Don't Think You're Nervous Enough

Oh hey there! Well I think I should give a shout out to my fans

7Seven7; Wow, how did you know? I called Martha up and was all "Ok, you and Superman hook up; what's the kid like?" And she basically came up with Mr. Shag all by herself.

-HiGhLaNd8-; I glad you enjoy it. Did you see I named a chapter after you, my friend? After 'Highland's Apparition' by Chevelle. Good song, you should check it out.

I also know that this chapter is a LOT of cheesiness and fluffiness but hey! What kind of sappy love story would it be without all the cheese and fluff.

Enjoy this next chapter, where Silas faces some old demons, and we learn exactly why he came to SVU…

**I Don't Think You're Nervous Enough (VII)**

Casey had gotten cleaned up and then went back to the hospitable. Elliot, Munch, Silas, and two court officers were all still in surgery. One officer, Redding, Judge Skyler, and all the shooters, including Kyle had died in the courtroom.

Olivia found Casey sitting in the waiting room, nursing a coffee. She slid into the chair across from her.

"So," she asked, "How long?"

Casey answered without looking at her. "Over a year."

"Really?"

"Yeah ever since we were stuck in the elevator together." She smiled at the memory. "We were too busy hating each other to realize how much we had in common. I never met anyone who likes spaghetti westerns as much as I do."

They both laughed a bit, but then Casey started crying. "God, he almost died! He was bleeding all over, and I felt powerless to stop it…"

"Hey," Olivia put a hand on Casey's knee. "He's not dead; he's going to be fine, thanks to you. If you hadn't made a tourniquet out of your jacket, he might have bled out."

"You know," Casey whipped her eyes on her sleeve. "We've been together for over a year and we've never said 'I love you', not even once. I was too scared to tell him, because of something like this; he puts his life on the line all the time, and I was afraid to get hurt… again. But today made me realize that was a stupid reason to not tell him."

"Then tell him." Olivia said. "Let him know."

Casey smiled weakly. "Thanks, Liv."

Time dragged on slowly it seemed, but finally the doctor came out and took Casey to Silas's room.

"…And keep him hydrated." The doctor said. "He drank too much caffeine today, that's why he was losing it a bit in the court room; he was so dehydrated. He's very lucky; he'll make a full recovery within a few months if he doesn't try to do anything stupid."

"I can't thank you enough," Casey said when they reached his room. "For everything."

"No problem, Ms. Novak." He said. "Now please, he's been asking for you for quite some time now."

Casey opened the door to see Silas propped up, drinking a large Gatorade. "Doctor's orders." Silas said when he saw her smiling at him.

"Don't worry, he's told me all about it." She crossed the room, and hugged him as best she could. "God, I was so scared."

"You were scared?" Silas looked her in the eye. "I saw a Neo-Nazi put a gun to your head, and then use you as a human shield! Call me when you ever get scared over something like that." He took her face in his hands. "I'm so glad you're ok, though. I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you."

"Silas," she smiled, "I should have told you this a long time ago, but I love you; you risked your life for me, and then I almost lost you without even getting to tell you how much I cared."

"I love you too." He pulled her down and kissed her. They were still kissing, when they heard someone clearing their throat.

Olivia and Dana were both standing in the doorway, smiling. Casey blushed and got off of Silas.

"Thought that would never happen." Olivia said walking over to them, Dana following. "I can't even describe how much I'm going to love not having to listen to your fake fights anymore."

"Only half of them were fake." Silas said. "Dana good to see you."

"You as well, Silas." Dana walked over and shook hands.

"You know her?" both Olivia and Casey looked surprised.

"Yeah back when I was down in Texas, my investigation got mixed up with serial killing, and Silas and I met there." Dana looked at Casey, "He was fresh out of the academy. He was adorable."

"Ha ha." Silas rolled his eyes. "You're hilarious."

"I know I am." Dana smiled.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you guys about her." Silas said, redirecting the conversation. "It would have compromised her investigation though."

"Thank you for not giving me away." She smiled. "I've got to go, but I'll see you around." She smiled again, and then left.

"How's everyone else doing?" Silas inquired.

"Ok, one court officer's touch-and-go, but Munch and Elliot and the other officer are ok." Olivia said.

"Good." Silas smiled at her.

"I'll leave you two then." Olivia smiled at the couple; Silas had taken Casey's hand and was stroking it with his thumb.

"Thanks, Liv." Casey called as the door closed.

The two of them were quite for a bit. "This really wasn't how I planned on asking you," Silas said "But I was wondering if you'd move in with me?"

Casey smiled and kissed him, loving how she could kiss him whenever she wanted now. "Of course." She whispered against his lips. Casey could definitely get used to this.

XXX

A few days later when Silas was discharged, they moved Casey's things into Silas' apartment. Well, Casey and some of the able-bodied SVU detectives, since Silas was barred from all physical activity. He was suspended from all field work until further notice, which meant he spent most of his time with Casey in her office, making profiles for cases sent from the BAU.

Casey was putting her law books on a book shelf next to all of Silas' books on criminology, when she heard his voice coming from his (well now their) study.

"What is it, babe?" she poked her head in. He was sitting at his desk, motioning for her to come over.

"I've thought it over," He said very solemnly. "And I've decided that you have a right to know." He opened a drawer; inside were about nine what looked like gun slugs suspended in glass cases. Some were partially destroyed, some were large, others small. Each one had a card.

"This is…" She looked for the right words. "Quite the collection."

Silas shrugged. "They remind me how lucky I am. How I probably shouldn't be here right now."

Casey picked one up. "October 27, 1999. Virginia." She read aloud. ".45 cal. Left shoulder. Chasing unsub Henry Rise (later shot and killed)."

"One of my first serial cases."

She picked up another one. "February 15, . .60 sniper round. Upper chest, missed heart by three inches. Police Plaza. Three cops killed. Unsub Brandon Nar caught one week later."

"Only after two more shootings and five more bodies." He reached in and handed her one; it looked like a web, as the bullet had shattered, and had been placed to expand perfectly out from one point. "This one was case that made me take a break and come here."

"March 14, 2005. Manhattan." Casey read, shaking a bit now. "Modified .45 cal. to shatter one inside victim. Close range abdomen shot. Home of Joseph Dunning (about to take him in for questioning). Detective Ben Silver died. Almost bled out; needed blood transfusion. Caught Dunning forty-eight hours later. Sentence to life without parole." Casey mulled over the name. "I read about that case in the paper… It was all over the news… The new Son of Sam." She looked at him. "You were the cop that almost died."

Silas nodded, his blue eyes unfocused. "His bullets shattered to create this effect." He opened a file to show Casey a picture of a dead man whose chest looked like it had been shattered like glass. Casey remembered reading the description of the way the victims had been killed in the paper, but the pictures had been too gruesome to be printed. Now she knew why.

"It was like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands with that guy. Until we realized he had been pretending to be one of his own victims. The perfect cover and the perfect way to insert himself into the investigation. The detective I was with and I went to take him in for questioning, we found him in the basement, my gun hand twitched, and he shot Ben in the head and me in the gut. I was in that basement for three hours and close to dying, before the rest of my team arrived." He lifted up his shirt, to show Casey the paper thin scars on his stomach that she had somehow never noticed before.

"I was back to work within two weeks after I got out of my coma. I had a hard time sleeping before but after that it was like I couldn't go to sleep at all. Then my mom died and Katrina hit, and during a raid on an unsub's home, I had a flashback and almost shot him. My supervisor said I would be for the best if I took a break; except I didn't want to just take a few months off and stare at the wall. The Chief of D's heard about my dilemma and asked if I'd like to come back to SVU for a bit."

This was almost too much for Casey to comprehend. Just the macabre collection in and of itself was almost too much to handle.

"This is…" Casey put the glass case back in the desk, like it was diseased or something. "Crazy."

Silas shifted a bit in the chair. "Tell me about it."

"I had no idea…"

"It's ok, I don't go around advertising what happened. No one else in SVU knows about it."

Casey opened her mouth to say something, then closed it.

They were quiet for a bit. "Are you ok?" Silas asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm…" Casey tried to find the right words. "Honored that you trust me enough to tell me about this."

"They only other people who know the full story are back in my old unit; I trust them all more then anything."

"Then I feel quite honored."

"You don't think I'm…" He choked on the word. "Crazy?"

Casey's eyebrows shot up. "No, no, absolutely not!"

Silas looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before; I was a afraid you wouldn't want to be with me if you knew."

"No, just the opposite!" Casey held out her hand and helped pull Silas to his feet. "Maybe we could try to work on it, you know," she gave him a small smile. "Together."

"I appreciate that, Casey." He smiled back, pressing a kiss to her lips. "I love you, so much."

"I love you too."

XXX

Whoah, I know I threw a lot at you in this chapter, but I hope this clears up most of the fog that is Mr. Shag's past. I

know that bullets probably can't explode into a perfect spider-web pattern but hey! It's a story! I also know that the whole keeping the bullet thing is a bit weird, but I'd do it too. Hell, I'd probably wear them all on a chain, like Tom Sawyer!

In speaking of past, anyone catch the 'usub' I threw in there? And who does Mr. Dunning sound like? Anyone, anyone?

Reviews are nice :)


	8. I'm Learning To Breathe

This is one of those adorable one-shot things I just kind of slid in there for you all.

Some shout-outs:

7Seven7- Yes, it is a lot, but don't worry they'll all come into play later…

VampirePrincess86- Bad things shall be happening soon, don't you worry… buhahaha…

**I'm Learning To Breathe (VIII)**

"Silas, I swear, I'm fine!" Casey was struggling to get out of the multiple layers of blankets her boyfriend had piled on her. "I'm going to work!"

Silas, who was held up by an old-fashioned black cane since he was still recovering from his gunshot wound he received only a few weeks ago, gently pushed her back down. "You're sick; I think you've got the flu. You are certainly not going to work!"

Casey sighed, defeated. She had been feeling like crap all week, getting the chills and was achy all over. Silas had taken her temperature this morning and it was 101 degrees; she was defiantly not going to work today.

"I'll call in for you." Silas leaned down and kissed her forehead, which was burning.

"I used all my sick days already!" Casey insisted.

"I'm sure Donnelly won't want you infecting everyone in the DA's office." He hobbled over to the large TV in front of the couch where Casey lay. "Now, all you have to worry about today is which movies you want to watch." He held up three DVDs. "We have here the classic Clint Eastwood trilogy, _A Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More_, and _The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly_."

Casey frowned. "I don't like watching them without you here to quote the whole movie in your cute southern accent."

"How about _The Magnificent Seven_?" Silas held up another DVD.

Casey rolled her eyes. "Fine."

He stuck the DVD in, and tossed her the remote. "I'll call Donnelly for you, ok?" He hobbled back over to her, and gave her one last kiss. "I'll try to be home early, and I'll call to see how you're doing… Be sure to drink lots of fluids, and there's soup in the fridge."

Casey rolled her eyes again. "I know, I know. Have a good day at work."

"I'll try. Before I go I need to borrow your phone to call your boss; I'm not special enough to have Donnelly's number."

"Sure."

"Alright. Love you."

"Love you too."

Silas limped into the kitchen and picked up Casey's cell phone. He flipped through her contacts until her found 'E. Donnelly'.

After a few rings, she picked up. "Donnelly."

"Hello, Elizabeth." Silas said, turning on the southern charm. "It's Silas Shag."

Donnelly paused. "Hello, Agent." She sounded confused.

"Casey won't be able to come into work today; I think she's got the flu."

Donnelly was silent again. "Alright…"

"She just wanted me to call and let you know."

Another pause. "Well… I hope she feels better."

"I'll let her know. Have a good day."

"You as well, Agent…" Donnelly hung up.

Silas poked his head back in the living room. "Congrats; you now have the day off."

"Great…" Casey drawled. "What'd she have to say?"

"Not much. She sounded confused, though."

"Wonder why?"

XXX

"And he called for her?" Lena Petrovsky exclaimed.

"That's right!" Liz Donnelly nodded.

"I thought those two were at each other's throats all the time?"

"Who?" Judge Karen Taten asked as she walked into the ladies room in the courthouse.

"Special Agent Shag and Casey Novak." Liz explained. "He called me on her phone saying she was sick and couldn't come into work today."

Karen looked at the other two quizzically. "That's odd."

"Odd indeed." Lena agreed. "Maybe they're having an affair?"

"No, they're always fighting; even when he's on the stand, they're at each other's throats." Karen said.

The bathroom door opened and who walked in but Detective Olivia Benson. "Detective!" Liz motioned her over.

Olivia came over, caution on her face. "Yes?"

"What is going on between Agent Shag and Ms. Novak?" Lena asked.

Olivia looked relieved as if she thought they were going to ask her something else. "They've been dating for a while; they were outed after the court house shooting a few weeks ago."

The three older women looked at each other, all of them confused. "For how long?"

"Over a year." Olivia said. "They did a damn good job of keeping it covered up, with their fighting and what not."

Liz crossed her arms. "Very interesting…"

Olivia couldn't help but smile a bit; she couldn't wait to tell Casey.

XXX

"Oh my God, you have got to be kidding me!" Casey groaned, blowing her nose and lazily tossing the tissue to the wastebasket a few feet away from her; it missed, of course. "They really were talking about it, in the bathroom?"

"Like a bunch of high-school girls." Olivia chuckled over the phone. "I can't believe they didn't know; Silas is always over at your office for lunch now."

"Well we don't broadcast it; and when he's over we usually have all the blinds drawn."

"Office sex. Kinky." Olivia chuckled. "I could arrest you for that."

"You have no evidence. Anything I say to you is hearsay, detective." Casey heard the door open. "Well, the mighty FBI agent is home to baby me, when it is he who needs to be babied!" Casey said the last part loud enough for him to hear before she started into a coughing fit.

Olivia laughed. "Well feel better, Counselor. I'll be sure to bring over some of my famous chicken noodle soup sometime."

"Thanks, Liv, please do!" As soon as Silas staggered in, she shut the phone, and gave him a weak smile.

"I am not the one who needs to be babied," Silas corrected, sitting on the arm of the couch, by her feet. "You look even worse than you did when I left you. Did you drink a lot of fluids?"

Casey rolled her eyes. "Yes, mom." She nodded her head towards the cane. "At least I can walk if I wanted to."

"Hey!" Silas shucked his suit jacket and tossed it aside. "So, what'd Liv want?"

"About that…" She propped herself up and smiled. "Guess who was the topic of the judge's bathroom gossip?"

Silas cocked an eyebrow. "Who?"

"We were."

Silas leaned back a bit and exhaled. "Why were they talking about us?"

"Donnelly was confused about why you called her for me on my phone." Casey coughed a bit again. "All of them still thought we hated each other. They didn't know we were a couple."

Silas let out a low whistle. "I don't know if I should feel flattered or creeped out."

"Me too. Guess everyone in the DA's office will know all about us soon." She patted the spot on the couch near her waist.

"Guess so." Silas limped over to her and sat down. "How are you feeling?" He pressed a hand to her forehead; she was still hot.

Casey shrugged. "Ok…"

"I'll go get you some soup." He stood up. "After… do you want to watch the 'Man-With-No-Name' trilogy with me quoting the whole movie with my adorable southern accent?" He poured said accent on each word like honey.

"I would." Casey smiled; she tugged on his pant leg a bit. "I want a kiss first."

Silas scrunched up his nose. "You're going to infect me!"

"Fine." Casey rolled her eyes. "Then just tell me that you love me then."

Silas smiled a bit. "You know I love you."

"I just like hearing you say it."

"I love you."

Casey smiled; it felt so good to say it to him and loved it when Silas told her how much he loved her. "I love you, too."

XXX

Cute huh? Yep, thought so. I'm a HUGE western fan and as cliché as it is, I could watch 'The-Man-With-No-Name' trilogy for the rest of my life and be content.

Next chapter: Someone both from SVU and Silas' past comes back. How will everyone react? How will Silas and Casey's relationship handle it?

Reviews are nice. :)


	9. I'm Learning to Crawl

SPOLIER ALERT! Spoilers for 'Ghost' in this one. Wonder what's going to happen? Dun dun DUN!

**I'm Learning to Crawl (IX)**

2002, NYC

Alex Cabot felt 17 again.

She and her secret lover Special Agent Silas Shag, the temporary FBI consultant on a serial case Manhattan SVU had on their hands, were making out on her desk like a couple of teenagers; soon he'd be pushing up her skirt and she'd be ripping his pants off, and then they'd be screwing on her desk like a couple of teenagers.

This was how their relationship had started; one minute they had been celebrating a case she had just won for SVU, eating Chinese food, and making fun of their bosses, the next they were screwing on the couch in her office.

They were friends around other people, friends with benefits when they were alone.

Three years, this had been going on, and Alex hoped that maybe they could become something more.

His phone rang, and he stopped immediately. "I've got to take this." He ran a hand through his now short cropped hair. Before 9/11 it was long like his dad's had been, but when he came to her house on 9/12 at three o' clock in the morning (not that it was any trouble to her, she had been up all night worrying about him) covered in dust and blood, wearing a pair of firefighters boots, he had taken a shower, told her to cut it all off, and then in work clothes, went back out to help.

He moved away from the desk, and chatted quietly. Alex tried to fix herself, making sure her hair wasn't sticking up, and made sure her glasses weren't askew on her face. He closed the phone and exhaled.

"Who was that?" She asked.

"The boss." Silas said. "There's been a string of serial killings down in Kansas."

"And he wants you to go." Alex said sadly.

"I'm in high demand."

"You are." She said seductively.

He smiled cheekily. "I can tell." he said walking over and fixed her glasses so they weren't crooked.

"When do you have to leave?"

"Tomorrow."

Alex frowned. "Well… can you stay for a bit?"

"Of course." he said returning to the position he was in earlier, and continued to kiss her.

2002, Nome, Kansas

Silas examined the body of a prostitute who had gone missing only a day ago.

"He's not keeping them for as long," He told a detective next to him. "He's escalating." He then pointed to the profanities cut in her body, all pre-mortem. "He writes things like 'dirty whore' and 'slut' on her body. He's probably a house cleaner." The detective looked at him funny. "He thinks he's ridding the world of something evil, by killing prostitutes, like Jack the Ripper or the Green River Killer. He'll probably have inserted himself into the investigation to see if we approve of his actions."

"I see." the detective leaned in a bit. "He burned her with… cigarettes? Maybe."

Silas examined the burns. "Looks like it. He's evolving. Interesting…" Silas' phone rang. "Excuse me." He walked over and answered it. "Shag."

"Silas?"

Silas paused. "Don? Don Cragen?"

"Yes."

"What's the matter? You know I'm on BAU business, I can't take an SVU case officially."

"It's not a case you have to take…" He heard Cragen inhale. "In the two weeks you've been gone, we've had a case involving a drug cartel."

"Don, you know I don't specialize in the cartel, I have some friends though-"

"Silas," Cragen's voice faltered a bit. "Alex was taken out on a hit."

The news hit Silas like a ton of bricks. "No." Was all he said "No, no, no. She can't be…" he was trying so hard not to lose it. No one could know about their relationship, especially not now.

"I'm sorry Silas, I know you two were good friends."

Silas felt a few tears roll down his nose. "Did… Did she go peacefully?"

"Silas. It was a cartel hit. They aren't supposed to go peacefully."

Silas closed his phone, without even saying goodbye. He felt a few more tears roll down his nose.

He felt someone tap him on the shoulder and Silas recoiled, as if he had been hit.

"Agent? Are you ok?"

Silas wiped the tears and turned back to the detective. "Yeah… Get me to the station. I need to speak with my team."

The detective looked at him funny. "Yessir, right this way."

Silas followed the detective, as if in a daze. He'd have to ask his supervisor for some personal time, to attend the funeral. Even if no one else knew about him Alex, he had to be there, as her friend.

2007, NYC

Silas Shag thought he was dreaming for a second. Alex Cabot was standing before him, the same, yet so different. Same thin frame, same high cheek bones. He noticed that her hair was longer though.

"I don't understand." Silas said slowly, looking from Elliot to Olivia to Cragen to the U.S. Marshall then back to Alex. "You said she was dead." Alex seethed at the way he talked about her like she wasn't in the room.

"I thought so too." Cragen looked at Olivia and Elliot.

Silas looked at them sharply. "You knew? You knew and you didn't tell me?" He yelled.

"We couldn't!" Elliot's voice was rising too.

Alex finally spoke. "They couldn't, Silas, for my safety."

"She's testifying at Connor's trial tomorrow." The Marshall said. "You three will watch her in shifts. Detective Stabler you first, the Agent Shag, then Detective Benson."

Silas looked around the room, and then without saying anything, stormed out.

XXX

Silas had been watching Alex for the last few hours. They were playing chess, like they used to.

Conversation had been limited. He asked her how she had been and vice versa. It was almost awkward.

"Check." Silas said moving his knight. "Check mate in two."

Alex studied the board. "You win… again."

"You could never beat me." He began moving the pieces back to starting position. "You did get better though. It took me more the three moves to beat you that time."

"I practiced a bit out in Wisconsin." She said moving her pieces back. "There's this nice old man who plays chess at the park by my house. He's almost as good as you, so I told him about you."

"You did?"

"Yes; he said he would have loved to meet you."

"Loved?" he repeated. "Past tense."

"I had to pretend you were a boyfriend who died in a car accident." She said fingering the king. "For security reasons."

"I see."

There was silence for a few beats. "Silas." She said at last. "Why are we dancing around this?"

"Dancing around what?"

"Don't play dumb." Alex said standing up. "I thought about you, about us, what we could have been, every day for the last five years."

"Alex." Silas said slowly, so she could understand him. "You were dead. I went and put flowers on your grave every other Sunday. I did it as a friend, but I've moved on."

Alex sighed. "I figured as much." She smiled a bit; it was a painful smile. "You were never one to wait around for anything."

"I did wait Alex." Silas said. "But then I found her," he decided it was best if he didn't tell her it was Casey. "And I didn't want to make the same mistake I did with you. I do regret not being something with you, Alex, but I don't regret meeting her. I love her."

Alex gave him another pained smile, walked over, and kissed him on the cheek. "You're all grown up."

"Five years'll do that to you."

XXX

The next morning, Silas watched Casey going over her closing argument while she was eating a piece of toast. And then he smiled thinking of how lucky he was to have Casey.

She paused mid-sentence, and looked up at him. "What?"

"I'm just thinking about how much I love you."

Casey smiled weakly at him; this was one of those trials that drained her, and was clearly seen all over her face. "I love you too."

He wanted to tell her, everything, about him and Alex; Maybe now wasn't the time for it though.

He stood up and went around the other side of the table to her, where he pulled Casey to her feet. "I love you," he said again, "more than you will ever know." He kissed her full on the mouth. "No matter what happens today, remember that."

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "You think something's going to happen?"

"No, of course not." Silas kissed her again, feeling her body melt into his own. They stayed like that for a moment until Casey broke the kiss.

"I love you too." She said, with a smile. "Now go get dressed; we need to be at the courthouse for nine sharp!"

XXX

The SVU detectives, Casey, Silas, and Mike all were in Casey's office after hearing the verdict, getting ready to toast to a victory.

"I don't think we would have won if Antonio hadn't testified." Casey said, pouring herself a glass of champagne.

"I knew you had it." Elliot gave her a one-armed hug.

"So did I." Silas gave her a peck on the cheek.

Olivia let out an obnoxious 'aw'. "They're so cute when they're young." She said.

"She doesn't think so." Silas said, looking at Casey. "Says I've got some gray."

"You do, I've seen it!" She playfully hit him. Elliot handed her a glass and Silas poured a generous amount of champagne in it. "Whoah, don't let me drink too much, penalty phase starts first thing tomorrow!"

"You hear that, Shag?" Elliot nudged Silas. "Don't keep her up too late." Both Silas and Casey rolled their eyes.

A shadow passed over the blinds. "Here she comes!" They all raised their glasses, but Silas felt his heart sink. _This would be how both of them would find out_, he supposed.

But the Marshall opened the door, and all of them lowered their glasses in surprise. "She told me to say goodbye." Wall all he said.

No one said a word; Casey took Silas' hand and gave a squeeze. Silas squeezed back.

XXX

So yeah, I know, I'm going all out of order with the episodes, but whatever.

So, neither of them know… Hm… maybe Alex will come back later, to kick up some dust…


	10. Never Knew That I Could Hurt This Bad

Well, first off I think I'd like to thank all of my loyal followers for reviewing and loving Shnovak as much as I do. :)

I'm just going to give a quick shout-out to VampirePrincess86 and say, yeah, now that you do mention it, they do. I never thought of it like that…

SPOILER ALERT FOR 'NIGHT' THIS CHAPTER!

**Never Knew That I Could Hurt This Bad (X)**

"If I can get Gabriel to plead out Nina won't have to go through a trial, and we can put him away for a while." Casey supposed.

"You won't need him or Nina. The DNA on the tissue will match, and you'll have him nailed." Silas replied kicking up his feet on her desk. "What's-his-face won't even want to get near a courtroom with that case." Casey's phone rang.

"Novak, sex crimes." She said, robotically. "Hm?" she glanced at Silas. "Ok, send them up." She hung up. "Flowers?"

Silas held up his hands. "Not from me."

Casey rolled her eyes. "Any other sensible man would say, 'yes, of course honey'."

"That would be lying."

"Says the deception expert…" Casey snorted. "Well, if they're from Jason Witicker, they are going straight in the trash."

"Good."

"Feet off the desk."

Silas swung his feet down. "Yes mom." Silas glanced at his watch. "Wow, it's late. You wanna get some dinner?"

"Eh, no dinner. Too late."

"How about a cup of coffee?"

"Only every second of every day." She smiled. "Maybe after we can have some desert."

A roguish grin spread across Silas' face like wildfire. "I'll hurry back then." He leaned over the desk and pressed a smoldering kiss to her lips.

"Please do."

He grabbed his jacket and glanced back at her before he left; she looked beautiful, smiling face illuminated by a single lamp.

Silas reached the elevator and saw a man carrying such a large vase full of flowers that he looked a pair of disembodied legs with a garden growing out of them. He'd have to get her a larger bouquet later to show up whoever had the nerve to send flowers to his girlfriend.

XXX

Silas walked back to Casey's office, and found the lights were off.

"Case, you'd better just be setting the mood, because if you left, I'm going to kill you…" he shouldered open the door and flipped on the lights.

Casey was laying on the floor, out cold. He dropped the coffee, and ran to her. Her face was cut and bleeding. He pressed two fingers to her pulse point in her neck. It was there, thank God.

He yanked out his cell phone, and dialed 911; "This is Agent Silas Shag of the FBI, I need a bus to the District Attorney's headquarters, ADA Novak's office ASAP!" as soon as he knew that the operator had gotten the message, he slammed the phone shut, and threw it across the room. Without thinking, Silas removed his coat and covered her up with it. He couldn't risk picking her up in case there was neck or head trauma.

He couldn't help looking around the room, putting together the crime scene in his mind; she had been attacked from behind, but Casey had fought back, tried to hit him with her bat, but he'd gotten it and…

"STOP!" Silas said aloud, forcing his attention back to Casey. "It's gonna be ok, Casey." He said, stroking her cheek, with a shaking hand. "It's gonna be ok."

XXX

Silas sat in the waiting room of the hospitable. To any other human being, it wouldn't have been that long of a wait. But to Silas, even minute seemed to drag on forever.

He couldn't stop shaking, from his hands to his feet. _I could have stopped the bastard_. Silas thought. _He walked right by me…_ Just the thought of it made him sick.

Someone was tapping him on the shoulder. "Mr…?"

Silas jumped up. "Shag."

"You're here for Ms. Novak?"

"Yessir."

"This way." The doctor led Silas along. "You need to be quiet; she needs to rest." Finally they got to her room. "She has a lot a bruising, twenty-three stiches, a few broken ribs, a dislocated knee, and a concussion, but she'll make a full recovery in a few weeks."

"Was she…" Silas choked on the word. "Raped?"

"No." Silas breathed a sigh of relief. There had been nothing at the crime scene to suggest it, but he wanted to be sure.

"Thank you." He said as he slipped inside and closed the door. She was sleeping, hooked up to a few machines that were beeping softly. It made Silas so angry to see the bruises on her alabaster skin. He pulled up a chair and sat down.

As he was looking her over, he suddenly knew who did this. Gabriel, the son-of-a-bitch… Silas pulled out his phone and hit Elliot's speed-dial.

"Hey," Silas whispered, so he wouldn't wake Casey. "It's Shag. Do me a favor…"

XXX

Casey woke up about an hour later. A soft groan escaped her lips and she rolled her head over to look at Silas.

"Silas?" Casey asked groggily. "What happened?" She tried to get up.

"Don't move, don't get up." Silas said, helping her lay back down. "Casey, you were attacked."

She looked confused, like she didn't believe him at first. "Who did this?"

"I was hoping you could tell me."

"Didn't anyone see? There were so many people…"

"Where?"

"In the squad room…"

Silas paused; She didn't remember her attack. "No, Case, you were attacked late at night in your office, remember I went to get coffee…"

She was crying now. "No, no, I don't…" Silas took her hand. "Why can't I remember?" She was sobbing now. It ate Silas up.

Suddenly, a look of pure horror washed over her face, that made Silas want to murder the bastard who did this to her. "D-Did he ra-rape me?" she cried.

"No, no, no." he said but she just cried more, maybe out of relief. He wrapped his arms around her and let her sob into his shoulder until she calmed down a bit. "Casey, I have to go and find who did this to you."

"Please," she whimpered. "Stay."

He kissed her hair. "Until you fall asleep."

"Be here when I wake up." She demanded her green eyes full of tears again.

"I will."

When she fell asleep about an hour later, Silas wrapped her up and quietly left.

Olivia saw Silas leave Casey's room down the hall and was going to go tell him that they had the guy in holding, but stopped when she saw him slid down the wall, put his face in his hands, and cry.

XXX

Man, Silas is turning into a softie, cryin' like a baby these last two chapters. Maybe he'll man up for a bit next chapter.

Oh, by the way, if you want that chapter up, I want reviews. Scratch that, I NEED reviews! So… do it!


	11. All of My Regrets are Nothing New

More spoilers for 'Night' in this chapter.

**All of My Regrets are Nothing New (XI)**

Silas didn't say anything. Didn't even look at Cragen or Stabler. Didn't even grab the file. He just stormed into the interrogation room.

_Nina's brother, of all people. Casey had tried to help her, and this stupid fuck goes and almost beats her to death._ Silas hated him. He wanted to strangle the scumbag with his bare hands.

"Do you think it's ok for him to be doing this?" Elliot asked quietly, as he and Cragen looked into the interrogation room.

Cragen sighed, and looked at the scene unfolding before their eyes. Silas looked terrifying, the dim lights throwing shadows across his face, his dark clothes accenting his pale skin. "I don't think any of us should have to do this."

The men's eyes met in the interrogation room. "I was tortured by murder squads in Yugoslavia." He said. "I don't scare easily."

"Well, maybe a hard twenty-five in Attica will." Silas said, each of his words coated with venom.

They were both quiet. "Why?" Silas asked at last. "What did she do to you? She was trying to help your sister!"

"She made my sister untouchable!" he shouted.

Silas took a threatening step forward. "How so?"

"She made Nina relive her humiliation in public!" They were both in each other's faces. "Now no man will have her. I got our honor back."

"By beating a woman up when her back was turned?" Silas' voice was rising. "Yeah. Real honorable."

He lunged at Silas, but the agent easily countered he blow and pinned him the table. "Beating that lawyer wasn't enough was it?" he snarled. "I should have killed her!"

Silas leaned over and whispered slowly, "If you had killed her, I would have made sure you died a horrible, painful, awful death in prison."

A cop came in to take him away, and Silas roughly the man shoved away. "Get him out of here."

Without saying anything to Cragen or Stabler, Silas just left to go back to the hospitable. Hopefully Casey hadn't woken up yet.

XXX

God, Casey loved how gentle he was with her. Every time he went to move her, whether it was from the bed to the wheelchair, or the wheelchair to the car, or even now as he carried her up the stairs to their apartment, it felt like she wasn't moving at all. _The world's best shock system,_ Casey thought.

"We're home." He said and she felt a small bump as he shouldered open the door. A few paces and he laid her on the bed; Casey let out a sigh of relief, glad to be back in something familiar. Silas put his hand on the bed by her shoulders and smiled down at her.

"Hey." She smiled weakly at him (the split lip didn't help her cause).

He smiled back down at her. "Hey." He gently caressed her face with his hand. "Do you want to shower, or go to sleep, or do you want something?"

"I want to shower. But first," she reached up and took his face in her hands. "I want a kiss."

Silas smiled and pressed his lips to hers; Casey's fingers wound themselves in his black hair, pulling him closer.

"I'm so sorry." She gasped when they broke, "For all of this…"

"Casey, if anyone needs to be sorry it's me." Silas said. "I'll go get the shower started."

Casey whimpered a bit at the loss of contact as he unwound himself from her. She heard the shower start, and then felt Silas' arms under her knees and shoulders. He lifted her up, easily, and carried her to the bathroom. He set her down on the counter, and in the light Casey saw how upset he looked.

"What's wrong?" she asked, pulling him closer to her.

Silas sighed. "This is all my fault."

"Silas, no…" she kissed him. "It's not your fault."

"If I had stayed two extra minutes you would have been fine; Casey I passed the son-of-a-bitch coming out of the elevator!"

"Silas, you had no idea…"

"I'm a profiler Casey, I should have read his body language! I'm supposed to see things like that!"

He looked her over. It had been a few days after the attack, and her bruises were beginning to turn to darker shades of purple and red. It killed him to see them on her porcelain skin.

"Shut up." Casey said firmly. "Now, do what you do best."

"We just established that I'm losing my touch."

"Not profiling. Getting me naked."

He couldn't help but smile a bit as he began to undress her.

"You know, because of my knee, you're going to have to help me shower." Casey said.

Silas looked at her sharply. "You don't need to prove anything." he said.

"What am I trying to prove? I just asked you to help me." She moved closer to him, and began to undo the buttons of his shirt, kissing the skin she revealed.

"Casey, you were attacked. You don't need to jump right back to sex if you don't want to."

"But, I need you." Casey wrapped her legs as best as she could around his waist, wincing a bit.

"See what I mean." Silas unhooked her legs and lifted her up a bit so he could slide her sweatpants off. "If you still want to, we can try later. But in the shower? To dangerous right now. I'll help you shower, but you try to seduce me and I swear…" he tried to think up a good enough punishment. "I don't know yet, but don't try it."

Casey frowned. "Fine." But the things that Silas was saying were true. Did she really want him right now, or did she just want to prove that she was strong enough to take it, after what had happened?

After the shower, Silas helped her get dressed into a pair of warm pajamas, and then laid her down again.

"So," he said crawling into bed, next to her. "I'll understand, Casey, if you don't want to."

Casey sighed. "I just want you to hold me, tonight."

Silas smiled and pulled her close. "That I can do."

XXX

Though Casey wouldn't admit it, she was still skittish after the attack. If someone got too close to her without her realizing it, she would jump a bit, as if startled. Silas always let her initiate physical contact; he never touched her without her permission. The cane was gone, but the bruises still lingered, yellow and green now, along with the memories of the attack, which had come rushing back to Casey about a week after.

She was happier then she'd let him know too, when he gave her a Bureau issued temporary gun permit, and his snub-nosed .22 to keep in her purse.

Sleeping was the worst for Casey; She could only fall asleep if Silas (and his service piece on the nightstand) was there to keep her safe. And even when she did fall asleep, she would shake, mumble things, clinging onto Silas like a lifeline.

Then the inevitable call came, when Silas had to be called out to a crime scene in the middle of the night. The next day when he saw her, Casey looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep.

He wanted to help her, even when he wasn't there. One day when he jogged by a window display, he found his solution.

It was one o' clock in the morning, when Silas slipped in, home late from first the nine hour interrogation he and Fin conducted on a suspect, second from picking up a present for Casey. As predicted, Casey was still up, putting together something for a trial scheduled a week from now.

"Still working?" he asked.

"Yeah." She patted the spot on the couch next to her. He sat down and put the bag on the floor. "Hey you." She said kissing him.

"Hey." Silas said. "How was the doctor?"

"Good, he cleared me."

"Fantastic, no more complaining about how you can't do anything because of your concussion."

"Hey!" she playfully hit him, and then leaned against his body. "I missed you."

"I know." He said, as he reached over and grabbed the bag. "I know you're still having a tough time coming back, and I don't like how you don't sleep when I'm away so I got you this…"

He put the bag in her lap. Casey gave him a look. "If this is another gun…"

"It's not." He smiled. Casey tore open the bag and pulled out a small stuffed German shepherd.

Casey smiled. "Silas, it's adorable!"

Silas smiled back. "Glad you like it."

"Why a dog though?"

"Well… It could be a precursor to getting a live guard dog…" Silas shrugged. "So you have a bit of protection when I'm not home."

Casey smiled and hugged him. "I would love to get a guard dog. Thank you… For everything."

Silas hugged her back. "I love you, Casey. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you."

XXX

A bit of a sappy ending to this chapter, but you know me, the sappier the better.

I couldn't remember the name of Nina's brother…sorry.

Next chapter, you'll all get to meet our furry little addition to the Shnovak clan. Suggestions for names for our four-legged friend?


	12. I'm Living Again, Awake and Alive

**I'm Living Again, Awake and Alive (XII)**

"Well, Achilles, looks like we're all alone." Casey looked down at the German shepherd, looking up at her, tongue hanging out of his mouth, tail wagging happily. "Don't look so happy about it."

About a week ago, Silas had picked her up from the DA's office and brought her to a friend who bred guard dogs (including German shepherds) where they picked up the lovable mutt, just in time for the business trip Silas had to take down to Quantico to lecture a group of FBI trainees.

And guess what day he left on? That's right; it was Casey's birthday. He wasn't even there when she woke up, as he left at around fourish.

Sure he went to conferences and gave lectures in the tri-state area, but this time he was going to be gone for a week. She told him she wasn't mad at, just… disappointed. She was looking forward to dinner at their favorite restaurant, coming home and watching some John Wayne movie, and then make love, all night long.

Casey made her way over to the island and picked up a menu for Chinese delivery. "So, what do you want?"

Achilles just kept staring at her with his big brown eyes. "Can dogs have eggrolls?" Casey frowned. "I hear the Chinese used to eat dogs." The dog cocked his head to the side. "Ok, no dog for you. I hope you like John Wayne as much as your daddy does. At least you two are here to celebrate my birthday."

A little while later, she and Achilles were both sitting on the couch, Achilles chewing on a large T-bone that Maurice had given the couple the last time they had gone out and Casey eating some chicken noodle thing, getting ready to watch _The Searchers_.

They had just made it through the opening credits, when the phone rang.

Caller ID read, 'Silas Shag'; she eagerly pressed the answer button. "Hello?"

"Hey gorgeous." She could feel his smile, even over the phone. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks." She smiled back, even though neither of them could see the other. "How was Quantico?"

"Stuffy as ever. Those trainees, whoah! So quiet the whole lecture, you could've heard a pin drop in New Orleans. Hopefully tomorrow's group won't be as bad."

"Did you do start off with the Lipstick Killer?"

"Yeah, usually that gets them talking, but I think I scared them too much."

"You should work on that."

She heard him chuckle over the line. "How was your day?"

"Good…" Casey poked at her Chinese. "It would have been better if I could have come home to you and your cooking."

"I know, baby," She heard a note of sadness in his voice. "I wish I was home, so I could take you in my arms, kiss you, make love to every inch of your glorious body…"

Casey felt her cheeks grow red, even though it was just her and her dog. "You're still on company time, so it wouldn't be a very good idea to be having phone sex right now…"

"You're no fun."

"Lawyers never are."

"Especially the old, crabby ones."

"Hey! I'm not that old!"

"Says the women who's convinced I've got some grey when we're the exact same age."

"That's different."

Silas let out a little snort. "So, what are your plans for the evening?"

"Well, Achilles and I were just about to start _The Searchers_, when you interrupted us."

"Ah, one of my favorites. And give Achilles a nice behind-the-ear scratch for me."

Casey reached over to the furry blob and gave him a few scratches behind the ear. "Daddy says hi."

Achilles looked at Casey for a second, then returned to his bone.

"He says hi back." Casey reported.

Silas let out a chuckle. "As fun as your evening sounds, I was expecting you to party it up with the girls tonight."

"No, I really just wanted to spend tonight with you."

Next to her, Achilles' ears perked up; a second later there was a knock at the door. "Hang on one second, someone's at the door."

Achilles stood up and jogged for the door, Casey on his heels.

"Alright." She lowered the phone and walked to the door.

The person knocked again, this time much louder. "Coming! I'm coming! Geeze…"

She looked through the peephole and saw a badge. Police? If it was Olivia or Elliot coming to check on her she was going to kill them…

Casey opened the door; as soon as she saw the person standing there, her jaw dropped.

"Casey Novak," Silas attempted to say in his best cop voice, but smiled anyway. "You are under arrest for not having fun on your birthday. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to-"

Casey flung herself at Silas, almost knocking them both over. Next to them, Achilles was wagging his tail, happy to see both of his owners happy again.

She had wrapped her arms around his neck and he placed his hands on her hips. "Do you understand your rights as they have been read to you?"

"I'm a lawyer, you idiot! Of course I know my rights!" She kissed him. "I thought you were in-?"

"I actually did have a conference, but it was just in Jersey, but Elliot told me to make it more interesting, and surprise you like this." Silas smiled. "And it worked; you look so happy right now."

"I'm going to kill him later." She pulled him into the apartment. "You both suck." She was trying to be angry, but she couldn't; just having him here right now was amazing.

He tossed his jacket on a chair, and pulled an envelope out of his pocket. "Your birthday present, madam…"

Casey took the envelope and opened it, two slips of paper falling out. "Two tickets to the Jets, Saints game outer-conference game, here in New York. Private box." She smiled at Silas. "More rich bastard connections?"

"I know the owner of the Saints, and I'm friends with a few of the players and coaches." Silas shrugged.

"Thank you." She kissed him "So much, I love it."

Silas glanced down at his dog. "I didn't forget about you…" He reached into the other pocket, pulled out a rubber bone, and give it a little squeeze; Achilles started jumping up and down, excited about his new toy.

With a flick of his wrist, Silas sent it sailing across the room and the dog bounded after it.

As soon as Achilles was out of sight, Silas pulled Casey into their room, kissing her and nipping at the pulse point in her neck, smirking at the small noises her was extracting from her. "You'll get the rest of your presents later." he murmured as he kicked the door shut.

"More presents-?" He silenced her with his lips on hers.

"Yes, of course there are more presents! What kind of rich bastard boyfriend would I be if I didn't shower you with presents?" He asked between kisses. "Any who… You'll get them all later after I make good on my promise."

"Mhm… what promise?"

"That I'm going to make love to every inch of your glorious body."

Casey smiled. "I think that's going to be my favorite birthday present…"

XXX

I did like VampirePrincess' idea of naming the dog Achilles. I am quite the Iliad freak myself, and while Achilles isn't my favorite Homeric character, I'll suck it up and give the fans what they want. Sorry Detective Mariam, as much of a Scooby fan as I am, I don't think the eloquent Mr. Shag would have named his dog after a cartoon character… REVIEWS! DO IT, DO IT NOW!


	13. Gonna Show This Town

**Gonna Show This Town How To Kiss These Stars (XIII)**

"Liv?" Olivia looked up, and saw Silas leaning on her desk.

"Oh, hey Silas." She continued her work. "Do you have your report yet?"

"Uh, yeah, here." He handed her a file. "Hey, I have something to ask you."

"What?"

"You're a woman right?"

Olivia stopped what she was doing and looked up at Silas. "What are you getting at, Agent?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"You and Casey are really good friends, right?"

"Yes." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a small black velvet box. "So soon, Agent?"

"Ha ha." Silas fake laughed. "Can you have a look, to see if she would like it?"

Olivia looked around. "She's not here is she?"

"No she just left, to go home."

Olivia took the box and opened it. Inside was a silver band with an emerald set in it.

"I want to propose, soon." Silas said "I'm going to take her on a late walk through Central Park, you know, when it's all lit up for Christmas."

Olivia closed the box and handed it back to Silas. "I think she'll love it."

Silas smiled. "Thanks, Liv."

Olivia returned the smile. "I hope it all goes well."

He gave a nervous chuckle. "Me too."

XXX

That was the thing about living with an insomniac. Some days you slept, other times you were up all night with him. For Casey tonight was one of those nights you were up.

"Let's go for a walk." Silas suggested.

"It's 12:30." Casey said not looking up from her book.

"So?"

"It's also snowing."

"It's just flurrying."

Casey didn't answer. She just decided to ignore him; she was getting to the good part in her book.

"Come on, Case…" Before she realized what had happened, he had grabbed her book, and was kissing her on the spot on her neck where he knew she fell apart. "Just for a bit…" he said between caresses. "It'll be worth your wild."

"You won't leave me alone until I say yes, right?" Casey swallowed a moan, so as not give him the satisfaction of winning.

"Correct."

She pushed him aside. "Fine," she went and grabbed her jacket. "Just for a bit."

XXX

Contrary to what she had thought, Casey was actually having a good time. They were arm and arm, and laughing over a prank Elliot had played on Munch.

"Oh God, I thought he was going to explode!" Casey was near hysterics. "I've never seen anyone turn that shade of red before!"

"Yeah, neither have I," Silas chuckled. "Well, except that one guy…"

Casey was about to ask what guy, but then stopped. "Silas, we walked all the way to Central Park."

He looked up. "Guess we did." It was all lit up for Christmas. "You wanna sit for a little bit?"

"Yeah." Casey spied a bench under a few trees that had lights on them. They walked over, and cleared the snow off the bench.

They just sat there for a bit, enjoying each other's company, and watching the snow fall.

"You were right?"

"About what?"

"The walk. It was worth my wild. Thanks." She looked up at him, and smiled.

"No, the pleasures all mine. Used to do this when I first had trouble sleeping." He sighed contently. "The city's so different at night."

"It's so beautiful." Casey said, gazing at the lighted park, and the city skyline peeking out from behind the trees.

"Ah, but it's nothing compared to you."

Casey blushed. "You're a hopeless romantic…"

"No, I mean it." He looked her right in the eye. "Casey, the first night we ever spent together, when I woke up with you in my arms, I knew that I loved you, and that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you."

Silas slid off the bench and down on one knee, magically producing a small black box. "Casey Novak," he began, opening the box. "Will you marry me?"

She looked at the ring, then to Silas, back to the ring, then back to Silas.

"Yes," she said breathlessly. "Yes, yes, oh my God, yes!" and with that she threw herself at Silas, hugging him with such force, they were both knocked back onto the snow. Silas removed her glove and slid the ring on her finger.

They ran all the way home, telling complete strangers that they were to be married, not even caring that they were getting strange looks

Their doorman looked happy for them though, and he smiled as he watched the happy couple start to make out in the elevator before the doors even closed all the way.

The next morning, Casey woke up on Silas' bare chest, remembering the events from last night with a smile, and getting butterflies in her stomach when she saw the ring on her finger. She liked the way it caught the light.

"I like the way it catches the light too." She heard Silas' voice, muffled by her hair; then she felt him inhale. "You hair smells nice."

She inhaled his scent. "You smell good too."

"Good because we don't have time for showers."

Casey shot up and looked down at him. "What?"

"While you were sleeping, I tried to get the day off for us, but uh…" He was trying to be nonchalant about it. "Our bosses are jerks." Casey glanced at the clock. 7:26.

She jumped up and started throwing on clothes; they were going to be late. "Well then get your sorry ass moving!" she snapped throwing him a pair of pants.

He caught them as he sat up, and with his best Louisiana smile and Southern drawl said, "Yes ma'am."

XXX

Sorry it's a short chapter. And I'm also sorry I haven't updated in a few days.

Any who, it's about damn time he proposed! Now review… or else!


	14. Dance All Night, Dance All Day

This is one of those little one-shot things, so… enjoy :)And be happy I'm posting two chapters in one day!

Also, the first part of this is a bit M-ish so… just be warned…

**Dance All Night, Dance All Day (XIV)**

Silas and Casey both came back down from their highs, breathing heavily, limbs tangled, foreheads pressed together.

"Wow." Casey breathed, unable to form an intelligent sentence.

"Wow is an accurate statement." Silas murmured, nuzzling her neck. "I can't believe we just screwed under the Christmas tree."

"Trust me, I know." Casey shifted a bit. "I have pine needles poking into my back."

"You should have said something; I can't read your mind!"

"Yes you can, don't lie."

"I can read your face, not your mind!" He smiled the lights from the Christmas tree bouncing off his perfect teeth. "And you had pleasure written all over your face."

Casey couldn't help but smile back; she tangled a hand into his black hair and kissed him again.

"It was pretty sexy though." Silas said between kisses. "Not the pine needle thing, you, under the tree… my early Christmas present."

Casey had gotten wind that Silas was having a rough day at work; he had spilled coffee on his favorite white on white pinstripe shirt after a rookie had knocked into him, he had tripped and torn his pant leg chasing a suspect fleeing from the police, and to top it all off his boss only let him have Christmas off. She got off work early since it was Christmas Eve, got home lit a bunch of candles and then sat under the tree in that sweater Silas loved on her, a simple bow taped on her.

Needless to say, Casey made his day much better.

Casey glanced at the digital clock on the DVR. 12:08. "Well, it really is Christmas now, so it wasn't really an early present."

"Wow, we've been here for a while."

"Well considering you were teasing me forever…"

"You liked it." Silas certainly looked proud of himself. "Be in all seriousness," he kissed her neck and moved down to her breasts. "Thank you for my present; it made my day so much better."

"It was my pleasure." Casey giggled. "Literally. I'm still trying to figure out if it was yours or mine."

Silas rubbed his stubble filled cheek against her neck; Casey cupped his cheek and pulled him up so she could kiss the his whiskers. "You're scratchy."

"And you're beautiful."

"Great come back, Shag."

Silas smiled, and kissed her lips one last time before he pulled out of her. Casey whimpered at the emptiness she felt when he pulled away, then let out a small squeak when he picked her up and carried her to their bedroom.

"We should probably get some sleep; it would be wise for us to be well rested to make it through the Stablers' tomorrow." He said as he laid her on the bed.

"Mhm…" Casey said with a yawn, curling up next to his body once Silas slid into bed.

"Merry Christmas, babe."

"I… love you…" were the last words Casey managed to utter before she was over taken by sleep.

XXX

"I hate you…" Casey growled from under her pillow.

Silas, who was straddling her hips, kissed her upper back. "Come on Casey… It's Christmas…" he said between kisses. "Santa's been here…"

"I want to sleep in, you son-of-a-bitch…"

"I guess I'll just have to open all the presents by myself…" Silas sighed dramatically.

"Fine by me."

Silas was having no more of this. He got off of Casey, and made it sound like he was walking into the kitchen. Casey pulled her head out from under the pillow, and continued to sleep. She looked like an angel, strawberry-blonde hair splayed out on the pillow, sunlight illuminating her pale skin.

Rudely, Silas grabbed her around her middle and pulled her out of bed.

"Silas Atticus Shag!" Casey screamed at the top of her lungs; she thrashed about, almost nailing Silas in the nose. "Put me DOWN!"

"Nope." He carried her into the kitchen, and dropped her in a chair. "Coffee?"

Casey crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, knowing she couldn't win this battle. "Fine. Go get me some clothes first."

Silas looked over her naked body, a grin playing on his face. "No, I rather like this."

Casey stood up and marched back into their room, putting on a pair of flannel pants and one of Silas' waffle shirts.

When she came back in, Silas was standing in the doorway that led to their living room, two steaming cups of coffee in his hands. Casey took one and pushed past him to the living room. As soon as she saw the tree, her jaw dropped.

"Santa really did come…" Casey shot a look to her filthy, stinking, rich fiancé.

Silas shrugged with a small smile. "He did, it seems…" There were more presents under the tree today then Casey remembered there being last night. He walked over and sat down, patting the spot next to him; Casey took a seat, eying him as she sipped her coffee.

He picked up a present. "To, Casey." He read, handing it to her.

Casey rolled her eyes and took the present. "Of course." She tore open the wrapping. It was a light green Snuggie. Casey smiled; every time a Snuggie commercial was on, she would joke to Silas how much easier it would make the stuff for work she did at home, as she was always cold, and was always wrapped up when she was working on statements at home. "Really?" she laughed.

"Really; it took all my rich-bastard connections to find a Snuggie that color." Silas chuckled. Casey opened it up and slid into the blanket with sleeves.

"I love it." She leaned over and kissed him. "Your turn." It took her a bit to find a present that didn't have her name on it and tossed it to Silas.

He tore open the wrapping; inside were a set of art supplies including a large sketch pad, charcoal pencils, and some pastels. "Case…" he smiled turning the supplies over in his hands.

"You haven't been drawing for quite a while; thought this would get your creativity going again." She tried to be nonchalant about it, when in reality she was really excited that he liked it all; Casey loved it when he drew. The quick sketches he used to draw of her when they first started dating were all over their study.

"Oh, it will, I promise." He handed her another present. "Here ya go…"

She opened it. It was one of those calendars that you pulled off a page for each day. The theme? '365 Things I hate About Lawyers'.

Casey burst out laughing. "Oh my God, this is hilarious!"

"Well, most of the people you complain about are lawyers, so when I saw it…"

"I love it." She said kissing him again. "Ok, another one for Silas…" She found another one for him and handed it to him.

It was a small package; Silas opened it and pulled out a small amulet. It was a St. Anthony medal; on the back it read 'Quo Vadis?'

Casey knew of Silas' God problems and, being the Catholic she was, was trying to help him through it. "I have a friend who makes custom saint medals…" She explained. "You're lost, so St. Anthony seemed like a fitting choice. Quo vadis means…"

"'Where are you going?'" Silas said quietly. He looked at Casey, the pulled her close. "This is the most thoughtful present I've ever received. Thank you."

"I'm glad you like it."

"Like it?" She felt his body rumble from his laughter. "I love it." She felt him reach over and pull out another present. "Here. It's not as thoughtful but…"

It was a long and small. Inside was a velvet rectangle. Casey opened it carefully. Inside was a silver necklace with an emerald set in it. The stone wasn't so large it was obnoxious, but large enough to let everyone who looked at it know it was worth a lot.

"Twenty-four karat white gold." Silas explained. "It' was my mom's, and hers before."

Casey's jaw went slack. "I don't think I can…"

Silas slid the necklace out of its resting place, and slid on Casey, snapping the clasp shut. "It matches your engagement ring." She turned around to see Silas smile broadly. "And your Snuggie."

Casey blushed. "The Snuggie kills it."

"No, you look beautiful." He said, pulling her into his lap, kissing her, his hands running up her body then down to her hips. "Too bad it's going to have to come off in a second."

"One more present."

Silas let out a growl. "But I want to unwrap this present… again."

"One more." She said wiggling out of his strong arms. "Humor me."

Silas rolled his eyes. "Fine."

Casey searched for a bit, and then tossed him a box. Inside was a beautiful black watch with silver numbers and arms. In the middle of the watch's face was a little window into the watch's inner workings, so you could see the gears turning.

"I know it's not a family heirloom," Casey said. "But I know you've been working on finding a new watch since your last one bit the dust. This watch is waterproof and made of a titanium-aluminum mix so it's virtually indestructible and lightweight. The cover won't even scratch."

"Wow!" Silas put the watch on. "Case, it's perfect. I don't know what to say…" he pulled her closer. "Except maybe thank you."

Soon the Snuggie, along with the rest of their clothes were discarded and they were making love right there under the tree for the second time that day.

XXX

"You could help me out." Silas asked Casey as they walked up the steps to the Stabler residence.

Casey glanced back at her fiancé, who was balancing four different types of pies in his arms, and smiled. "You're the big strong FBI agent in this relationship; I think you can handle it."

Silas let out a little growl. "You suck, you know that, right?"

"That's not what you were saying a few hours ago." Casey waltzed up to the door, and knocked.

About a minute late, Elliot's son, Dickie, opened the door. "Come in!" He ushered Casey and Silas inside. "You must be Ms. Novak and Mr. Shag. Let me get some of those for you, Mr. Shag."

"Thank you." Dickie took two of the pies off of Silas' stack, and carried them into the kitchen; both Silas and Casey followed.

Kathy saw the two of them, and immediately put down whatever it was she was trying to cook, and greeted them both. "Thank you so much for coming over! It's good to see you both!" Kathy hugged Casey, and then turned to Silas and Dickie. "Pies can go in the fridge."

"Fantastic." Both of them put the pies in the fridge, and then Kathy hugged Silas.

"Thank you for letting us spend our first Christmas as on official couple here." Silas said, removing his coat, and sliding Casey's off her shoulders. "Where do you want the coats?"

"The closet in the hallway." Kathy motioned down the hallway. "Dickie, show him where it is."

After Silas and Dickie were out of sight, Casey smiled at Kathy, "And when he says 'spending our first Christmas here', he really means, 'not spending it with Casey's family'."

Casey let out a squeak, when she felt an arm snake around her waist. "Well, mainly your brothers and your dad. From the pictures I've seen, they all look much bigger than me."

"I'm bigger then you, Shag, and you don't seem too scared of me." Elliot walked into the room.

"Well, I know you're really just one big lovable teddy bear under the tough cop exterior." Silas held out his hand. "Good to see you, Elliot."

Elliot shook his hand. "Glad you could make it. You too, Counselor." Silas let go of Casey, so she could hug Elliot. "Well, the turkey's looking good."

"Good." Kathy returned to the oven. "Do you two want anything to drink?"

"Silas is designated driver tonight, so I will have a glass of wine to star off and progressively hit the harder stuff as the night goes on."

"Sounds like a plan." Elliot walked over to where the spirits had been set out, and poured her a glass of red. "Silas?"

"Can I have a glass of spiked eggnog? Just don't spike it too much, like Casey said, I'm driving."

"Eggnog." Casey made a face. "I don't even know why he's so obsessed with the stuff."

"It's delicious, that's why."

Kathleen Stabler walked in the kitchen. "Can we talk about how much I love you two as a couple?"

Silas cocked an eyebrow at Kathleen, then at Casey. "Uh… sure?"

"No, I mean, you two are so adorable. And now my dad doesn't complain about how you two get into fights anymore. It's great."

"Yeah, that is a plus for all parties involved." Kathy interjected.

Before either of them could speak, there was another knock on the door. "Dickie get that!" Kathy yelled. Dicke walked out of the room mumbling about how he always had to get the door.

A second later, Olivia walked in, carrying a large glass bowl. "Potatoes, anyone?"

"My favorite." Elliot took the bowl. "Well, the gang's all here. I'll check on the turkey, and then we can eat."

XXX

Soon, the Stabler family, Silas, Casey, and Olivia were all seated around the dining room table.

Elliot, who was seated at the head of the table, said grace. "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us all here together and for giving us this wonderful food…"

A next to him, Silas had tuned out the prayer, as he didn't really believe in it. Sure, he was trying to get better at the whole God thing, but right now, he was too busy trying not to drool over the gorgeous looking turkey in front of him.

"…Amen." The 'amen' jerked Silas out of his thoughts, and he hastily crossed himself.

Soon, Silas' plate was stacked and he was shoving his mouth full of all the fantastic food.

"So, Mr. Shag," Maureen asked Silas, a few seats down. "You're from New Orleans?"

Silas swallowed the large picked of turkey he had eaten, and looked down the table. "Yes, ma'am."

"What's it like down there?"

Silas paused. "It's a lot louder down there then it is up here. Everyone's crazy. There'll be people on different street corners playing instruments, trying to win the understood battle of the bands. I used to go out there with my school friends and we would play a few blocks away from our school."

Maureen smiled. "Sounds wonderful."

Silas pointed his fork at her. "If you ever have a chance to go down, do it."

"I will."

"Do you miss it?" Kathy asked now.

Silas shrugged. "Yeah, but you know I'm glad to be up in New York too."

"Well, I can think of someone who's happy he's in New York and not New Orleans." Olivia winked at Casey, who blushed a bit.

"I would hope so." Silas said, lacing his fingers with hers under the table.

"Oh, I am."

Kathleen pointed to the young couple. "See! They are just so cute!"

The whole table laughed as this time, as this time both Casey and Silas reddened.

XXX

I know, poor ending, but I was getting a bit lazy at the end.

Wow, This chapter, was a bit long… Whatever, I'm making up for the shorter chapter I posted earlier today…

And no, I did not make Silas' middle Atticus after Atticus from _To Kill a Mockingbird_… I did it because I just enjoy the name…

Next… A tragedy strikes our favorite OC! What will happen to Silas? Review and find out!


	15. We're Gonna Fuel This Fire

VampirePrincess: Oh crap! I forgot to give Achilles anything. I'll make up for it though, by plugging him in a chapter or two soon.

**We're Gonna Fuel This Fire, Gonna Stoke It Up (XV)**

Silas Shag was on top of the world.

People in the Court House coat room were looking at him strangely; he was whistling 'Purple Haze' as he retrieved his jacket and scarf. Why shouldn't he be happy? He was the first witness called in a basically open-and-shut case his fiancée, yes, his fiancée, who he had proposed to only a few weeks ago, was prosecuting. The defense was trying to argue emotional disturbance but first his testimony of a profile he had come up with that fit the defendant to a T, then Huang's assessment of the guy, and he was done. No jury was that stupid.

After she finished with this case, he would take her out to their favorite restaurant, and then make love to her all night long.

Silas was in a good mood to say the least. He stood on the Court House steps, and looked at the sky. It was snowing lightly, the kind of snowing he didn't mind so much. No one was around. It was peaceful.

"Agent Shag!"

Silas looked towards a figure, who was bundled up so tightly that Silas couldn't see his face, jogging towards him. "Yes?"

The figure was walking closer to Silas than he was comfortable with. Suddenly, the man grabbed Silas' shoulder and then he felt a warm heat in his stomach. Silas knew that feeling. He looked down to see a knife being twisted in his abdomen, and then pulled out, blood spurting from the wound.

Silas used his hands to cover the wound, but the blood kept flowing from between his fingers. The figure took a step towards Silas. Silas tried to step back.

Then there was a voice that sounded like it was saying, "What's going on over there?"

He looked up to see the figure running away. "Wait!" Silas called, his vision blurring. He tried to take a step forward, but he faltered, and collapsed on the court house steps, and was dragged into darkness.

XXX

Silas couldn't tell if he was dreaming or awake, dead or alive. His limbs felt so heavy, he couldn't move them.

"Ug…" he groaned.

"Silas…?" There was a voice, he could hear someone. Silas hoped he wasn't dead.

"Don't…" Sweet Jesus, his head hurt.

"Don't what?"

"Don't… I want to live…" Silas Shag didn't beg, but he wanted to live to see Casey again. Just one more time. The last words they had said to each other were 'composed sociopath' and 'thank you, nothing further'.

"He's out of it." The voice said.

"Yeah the morphine will wear off in a few hours, and then he'll be wide awake." _Two voices?_

"Casey…" he moaned. He wanted her here to confirm that he wasn't dead.

"Sweetie, it's Olivia." _Liv? Why was she here?_ "You were attacked. Casey'll be here soon. Just sleep for now."

So he wasn't dead, because Olivia wouldn't be talking to him if he was. But he still wanted Casey here to confirm that he wasn't dead, just to be sure. But before he could say anything else, his body gave into temptation, and shut down again.

XXX

Sorry, really short chapter, but I had written this as just a quick one-shot but decided it wouldn't be fun to post it all at once. Maybe I'll put the next chapter up later today I want to see you all freak out for a bit, buhaha…

REVIEW! DO IT NOW!


	16. And Every Drop That Spills

VampriePrincess: Listen, I tried to beef it up, but it's been a long day ok? Haha

7Seven7: Yep, I just enjoy the name; it also means 'From the region of Attica' like Athens in Greece, so maybe Silas' ancestors were Sophists in Ancient Greece or something…

**And Every Drop That Spills (XVI)**

Casey Novak felt fantastic.

Her case was going really well, and most of the jury seemed to be on her side. She was looking forward to the surprise Silas had planned for tonight, too. She hoped it involved food, because she was hungry.

She walked out on the Court House steps, and noticed two things; first it was snowing lightly, the nice kind of snowing.

Second, there was a huge crowd about twenty feet away. She noticed a few cops trying to keep the crowd back, and some CSU going over the area. It was probably another shooting during a press conference, but Casey wanted to check it out and see what was going on anyway.

She pushed her way through and finally made it to the makeshift barrier the police had set up. There wasn't really a crime scene; just a large pool of frozen blood. They must've already shipped the poor guy off to the morgue; no one could lose that much blood and live, right?

What really threw Casey off, was that Elliot, Fin, and Munch were all there, processing the crime scene.

"Hey! Guys!" she called out to them. All three of them looked at her, then to each other. Elliot walked over to her, alone. "What's going on?"

"You should come with me." Elliot said his voice low.

Casey was starting to get worried. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Just come." He led her along outside the gaggle of onlookers and press. Once they were far enough away, Elliot turned to her, trying to find the right words. "Casey…" he exhaled slowly.

She repeated her earlier question; "What's going on?"

Elliot could no longer delay it. "Silas was attacked, after he left."

The color immediately drained from her face. "Where… where is he?" she asked, "Is he…?"

"He's alive, at St. Luke's, Olivia's with him." He pointed to an officer by a squad car. "Officer Lewis will take you to him."

She didn't say anything, just hurried down the step to the officer. The look of pure horror on her face had been awful. Elliot wanted to kill the son-of-a-bitch who had hurt both of his friends.

XXX

Olivia could see how much self-control it was taking Casey to keep her emotions under control; when she had first seen Silas lying motionless on the hospitable bed, she let out a half-sob, half-cough, trying to keep herself from losing it right then and there.

"How is he?" Casey asked; she was twisting her engagement band around her finger, her whole body shaking a bit.

"He's been in and out of it, thanks to the morphine. His injuries would have been a lot worse if the knife had cut his stomach, instead of his appendix. They just had to remove it, and sow him back up. He only needed a blood transfusion, and the doctors said he should be good as new in a few weeks."

Casey pulled a chair close to the bed, and took his hand. "How lucid is he?"

"Not very," Olivia shook her head. "The morphine'll wear off soon and he'll be able to talk coherently." They were both silent for a bit. "He keeps asking for you."

She could see the tears welling up in Casey's eyes, taking it as her cue to go. "I'll leave you then."

"Thank you." She said, "For staying with him."

Olivia just smiled a bit, and left. Casey broke down as soon as the door closed.

XXX

A few hours later, the morphine had worn off, and Silas had called Stabler in to see how their progress on his case was going. He was still weak, and couldn't move without being in excruciating pain, as he had decided not to take any sort of pain medication. Despite this, he still wanted to work his own case.

Casey on the other hand, didn't really want him to, and insisted he just needed to rest. After arguing for a bit, Casey gave up, and went to go find something to eat.

"So," he said to Stabler, looking over his notes. "No, DNA, no fibers, nothing."

"Not even on your coat." Elliot said. "Just this picture." It was a fuzzy blow up of a black figure. Not much help at all.

Silas groaned. "This wasn't random." He said. "He knew my name, he said it. Look for similar cases. Recent parolees on some of my cases. He also missed any vital organs and got my appendix instead, so he can't be that skilled; look for younger, one-time offenders."

"Alright." Elliot paused. "Good to have you here, Silas."

Silas nodded his thanks. "Casey went to grab a bite to eat, well food for her, water for me, I can't keep anything down. Talk to her about getting into our apartment and getting into my personal files."

Elliot nodded, and left; as Silas said, he bumped into her at the elevator. They quickly talked about the files, and she was about to go back, when Elliot touched her arm. "How are you?" he asked, lowering his voice.

Casey shrugged; she looked tired. "I just want it to be over."

"Casey, we'll catch the guy who did this."

"You don't understand." She whispered, "I want it all to be over; the danger, everything. I want to stop having to wait up, worrying about him at three in the morning, or wondering if he made it back safely after executing a warrant."

Elliot sighed. "I don't know what to tell you, Case."

"Yeah," she turned to go, "No one does."

XXX

"Two similar attacks, in the last year or so." Silas read from the file, "A public defender about eight months ago, stabbed in an alley on his way to work, killed. Wallet and badge were both taken. Assumed a mugging gone wrong. Second was an auto repair guy, about forth months ago, attacked when he was opening up his shop in the early morning. His wallet was taken, but a friend found him, and he was rushed to the hospitable in time. Once again, assumed mugging gone wrong."

Huang looked over the files. "Same M.O. Early morning stabbing, no witnesses. But with your attack he escalated. The court steps were bolder, even if it was early in the morning. He took the wallets as trophies."

"He didn't take anything from you, though." Casey interjected.

"He didn't have time." Silas explained. "The judge that saved my life was coming up the steps, so he didn't have time to take anything."

"What's the connection though?"

"The defender I've seen before, I profiled some of his clients, but the repair guy…" Silas shook his head, "Never seen him before."

"We'll cross check him with your cases." Casey looked at the picture of the repair guy. "Maybe he was a witness in a case."

Huang spoke. "These were personal. He knew all of you."

"Yeah, I mean, he looked my right in the eyes when he stabbed me. He wanted to see the life leave me." Silas shuddered a bit. "The only reason the repair guy and I are even alive is because someone walked in on him. He didn't even to take his trophy from me." Silas' eyes lit up. "He'll want a trophy."

"What are you saying?"

"Use me as bait."

"Absolutely not." Casey said immediately.

Before they could argue about it, Elliot and Olivia walked in; Elliot dropped the paper in Silas' lap.

"That's one for your scrapbook."

On the front page was a picture of a dead looking Silas splayed out awkwardly on the court house steps, and elderly judge trying to help him. The headline read 'FEDERAL AGENT STABBED ON COURT HOUSE STEPS!'

"Oh, that's an unattractive picture." Silas joked; next to him, Casey looked upset by the picture. "Now, please, if you'd all be so kind as to find the son-of-a-bitch who did this, it would be greatly appreciated." Taking the hint, they all left, leaving Casey and Silas alone again.

He slid over as best as he could and motioned for Casey sit on the bed next to him. She smiled weakly and sat by him. "You ok?"

Casey exhaled a shaky breath, "No."

"Why? You weren't the one who got stabbed."

Casey let out a fake laugh. "What if I hadn't called you so early in the morning? What if you had left a little later? What if-?"

"Casey," he couldn't lean over and kiss her, because it hurt too much, but he put a hand on her lower back. "You'll go crazy thinking of the what ifs. No matter what, he would have gotten me, whether it was on the court house steps or on a run or whatever. It's not your fault so stop beating yourself up over it."

Silas played with the hem of her shirt, his cool fingers brushing against her skin; Casey couldn't hold back a soft moan. Suddenly the door swung open, and Cragen, the Chief of D's, and the head of the New York FBI field office walked in. Casey gave out a small squeak and jumped off of the bed as fast as she could.

"Ah, Agent Shag, Counselor." Silas' boss said, giving both of them a curt nod, "Good to see you're doing better, Agent."

"Uh, yes, thank you, sir."

"Are you well enough to do a press conference?" Cragen asked.

"Why?"

"We consulted your friends down at the BAU. We want to draw this guy out in the open. Let him know where he can find you. We're going to set up a sting."

"I actually just suggested that to ADA Novak and Agent Huang a few moments ago, before he left." Silas said.

"I'm sure you did." The Chief of D's smiled.

"Just let me know when." Silas sat up a bit more. "I'll be there."

XXX

"The FBI and the NYPD will not be intimidated by this," Silas' voice boomed, as flashes went off from the gaggle of press. "The culprit will be caught and brought to justice. If anyone has any information, please call our tip line. Thank you." He stepped back on unsteady legs, and Fin helped him down, and through a hall way, out of the press's sights, and into Casey's arms.

"You did good, my man." Fin put a hand on Silas' shoulder. Silas smiled weakly back. Casey put him in a wheelchair, and wheeled him back to him room, where TARU agents were setting up cameras.

She helped him back into the bed, when Elliot and Olivia jogged into the room. "We have our connection!" Liv declared.

Silas snatched a file out of Elliot's hand. "James Buck?" It took him a few seconds. "He shoved a handful of marbles down his brother's throat when he was twelve. My profile told them to look at a child, instead of an adult, because of the marbles; the lawyer was his court appointed officer, and the repair guy was the foreman who sentenced him to live in a psych ward until he was eighteen." He looked at the detectives. "Did you find him?"

"No he fell off the face of the earth, hasn't checked in with his P.O., family doesn't know where he is."

Silas leaned back. "Then I guess we're just going to have to wait and let James come to us."

XXX

DUN DUN DUN! Yeah, sorry about how short the last chapter was, but I hope I made up for it in this one.

REVIEW! NOW!


	17. I Said Who Are You?

**I Said Who Are You? Don't Matter Who You Are (XVII)**

It was about ten at night. Casey along with Cragen and Moralis were watching the screens of all the security cameras set up in the hospitable. Nothing so far. Casey was watching the screen focused on Silas' bed. He looked like he was sleeping peacefully. She knew he wasn't though; if he was really sleeping then he's be fidgeting, and mumbling things.

"We got something." Moralis pointed to a figure making his way down the hall to Silas' room. He passed the guard who was also 'sleeping'.

He stood in front of the bed, looking down at Silas. Casey started to say silent prayers.

"Silas Shag." He said, loudly enough for the microphones to pick it up.

Silas was jolted 'awake'. "Huh? Wha-?"

"Do you know who I am?"

Silas struggled to sit up, but winced in pain, and laid back down. "Who-?"

"Buck. James Buck."

"Buck… Buck… Buck… oh yes! You're that psychopathic kid we couldn't lock up to protect society!" _Stop antagonizing him,_ Casey begged silently.

"Those cops were so dumb, but you, you led them right to me!" he pulled a large knife out of his jacket. "Ad now you're going to pay…" he took a step closer. "I'm going to watch the light leave your eyes, Agent." He raised the knife, and Casey had to look away.

"FREEZE!" Officers and detectives flooded the room, guns drawn.

The kid dropped the knife, and raised his arms above his head. His eyes never left Silas's, and that creepy smile never left his face.

Once he was led out, Casey saw Silas breathe a sigh of relief. She couldn't help but breathe one too.

XXX

"What are you still doing here?"

Casey looked up, startled a bit; Arthur Branch was leaning in the doorway of her office.

"I need to finish off a closing statement for tomorrow." She said, in a matter-of-factly tone.

Branch smiled. "Isn't tonight Silas' first night home from the hospitable?"

_How did he know that?_ "Yes."

"Why aren't you with him?"

Casey shrugged. "I missed a few days of work, so I need to catch up."

Branch looked at her straight in the eye, and smiled again. "You know, he's probably lying in bed, working on a profile, wishing you were there with him." He picked her coat off the coat rack and held it out. "The Thete case was open and shut anyway."

Casey grinned and began to pack her things.

XXX

It still hurt like a mother to move, so Silas lay in bed, looking at pictures of a serial killing out in California, muttering to Achilles who was curled up next to him.

"Had to be more the one unsub…" he told Achilles, who seemed more interested in his squeaky toy then this serial killer. "One to restrain victim, another to stab…" Both Achilles and Silas' ears perked up when they heard the door open.

"Silas?" He heard Casey call. He checked his watch. It was 6:12. Why was she home so early? She said she was going to be late.

"In here babe!"

There was the sound of dog food being poured into a bowl, and Achilles promptly jumped out of the bed and rushed for the kitchen.

Casey poked her head into the door way and grinned. "What's so funny?" Silas asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Branch was right."

"Branch was right?" Silas was intrigued now. "About what?"

Casey walked in, closed the door, kicked off her heels, and tossed her suit jacket in the hamper. "You."

"That's creepy, and so very not specific all at the same time."

She just kept smiling as she stripped in front of him, and donning her winter pajamas; flannel pants and one of Silas' waffle shirts. "He said you'd be in bed, making a profile."

"Wow, Branch knows me better than you do."

"He doesn't know what color boxers you're wearing."

"I would hope not."

"I'm going to guess… red?"

Silas pulled up his shirt to reveal the waist band of a pair of red boxers poking out of his flannel pants. "You're good."

She crawled into bed next to him. "So I've been told." She was laying on her side, propped up by her elbow, looking down at him, beaming.

"Why are you so happy?"

"Because you're alive."

"That makes me happy too."

"But in all seriousness…" Casey moved closer to him. "You almost died. I'm just glad you're here."

Silas rolled his eyes. "Stop being a drama queen." He pulled her down for a kiss.

The kiss smoldered, until Casey pulled away. "No physical activity." She repeated the doctor's orders.

"God, this is going to suck…" Silas sighed, but ran his fingers over her cheek. "You're so beautiful, though."

Casey blushed. "Stop changing the subject. I was so scared. What if I lost you?"

"Casey don't-"

"Silas, it's high time we have this conversation." Casey said sternly. "You're injured every other week. What if one of these days you don't miraculously survive a brush with death…"

Silas broke eye contact with her and looked at the ceiling. "After you said yes, I added you into my will. Before you came along, I had no next of kin to leave everything to; so I left you everything. The apartment, all of my accounts and assets, and my estate down South."

Casey's jaw dropped. "You what?"

"If you don't want it…"

"No, it's just you left me… all of that?"

"Like I said before, technically, you are my next of kin now."

"I don't think I could ever do something for you of that magnitude."

"You don't have to." He took her fingers and pressed them to his lips. "I love you."

"Obviously…" Casey was still dumbfounded over this. The apartment had to be worth at least half a million, and she didn't even want to think about his estate in New Orleans…

"Casey, and if something were to happen to me, I don't want you to wait around for me. I want you to live your life. For me." He pulled her down so their noses touched. "Don't wait…"

Casey could barely comprehend this. "Silas, I… I…" He silenced her with an urgent kiss.

"It's ok." He murmured against her lips. "You don't need to figure it out today. I'm just telling you how I feel."

"Alright." She felt herself being pulled closer to him, until she was straddling his hips. "Thought the doctor said no sex?" She inquired between kisses, as his hands played with the hem of her shirt.

"He never explicitly said sex." Silas replied, nipping at the pulse point on her neck, earning him a moan from Casey. "Besides he probably never had a woman in his bed that has the body of a goddess to tempt him before."

Casey's brain had shut off, and the only thing she was focusing on, were Silas' lips, and trying to figure out a way to get his shirt off without hurting him too much. She liked having him in one piece; she planned on keeping him that way for at least a few months longer.

XXX

I have no witty things to say this time. So… Review! Or else!


	18. We're Gonna Sip This Wine

**We're Gonna Sip This Wine, and Pass this Cup (XVIII)**

Silas flattened his collar about the hundredth time.

Casey glanced over at him from the driver's seat. "Why are you so nervous?" she giggled a bit.

"Because you have no idea how much your family scares me."

"You've never even met the before."

"All three of your older brothers look like brick walls in the pictures I've seen; Your father is a war veteran, and a Czech immigrant; and your mother is an Irish-American, who if anything like her daughter, is a force to be reckoned with. Me? I'm just a rich punk from Louisiana. I have every right to be terrified."

"Well you need to relax." Casey smiled to herself a bit. "They can smell fear."

Silas whimpered a bit. "Why don't we just call them, and say we got a flat or something and couldn't come. We could rent a room in a nice hotel, and use our weekend off to do something a bit less terrifying." Casey's body tightened as she felt his fingers traveling up her thigh.

"Silas," she said sternly. "Considering we are to be wed in a few short months, and since my family would like to go, I figured you'd like to meet them sooner, rather than later."

He took his hand back. "Fine." He pouted. "Let's just hope I survive the encounter to make it to our wedding."

"Stop being a drama queen."

Silas looked out the window. "Ah, the Virginia suburbs. Reminds me of my Quantico days. I actually don't think it's too far from here. We should make a pit stop to say hi to some friends at the BAU while we're here."

Casey sighed. "Just what I needed."

"What?"

"To be in a room full of profilers."

"I'm going to go through hell, you might as well too."

"Fine, just do me a favor."

"What?"

"Please don't profile my family."

"Hey, I can't help it! It's like second nature!"

"You can help it."

"Fine, I'll try not to."

She reached over a rubbed his head. "Good boy." He gave a little growl, and tried to flatten out his hair; Casey was impressed at the way he had tried to make it look nice for his soon-to-be in-laws.

She pulled into a driveway that already had three other cars squeezed into it. All three of her brothers lived in Virginia, so they were all already here.

She looked over at him, and smiled; he was paler than usual, knuckles white on the arms rests. "God help me." He whispered.

"Stop being a drama queen." She got out, and looked up at her childhood home. It was a typical suburban house, white with green shutters, two floors, little flowerbeds in the front. It was like going back in time to when she was a kid.

Silas was examining the cars in the drive way. "This one is… Corey's?" He guessed pointing to an older car. Casey shot him a look.

"I told you not to profile them!"

"I'm not," He smirked. "I'm profiling their cars." He looked at the blue mini-van. "And Connor? He's got the two little girls, right?" It was scary how good he was sometimes. He pointed to the nicest car. "And Carl Junior, correct?"

Casey folded her arms across her chest. "Stop it."

" 'Know thy enemy'."

"Shut up." She took his hand, pulled him up the stairs, and rang the doorbell.

"Five… four… three… two… one…" as soon as he said one, the door opened.

Mrs. Novak opened the door. "Hello!" she ushered them both in the house. She looked like an older version of Casey, with red hair and fierce green eyes. She wasn't as tall as Casey though.

"Hi, Mom." Casey hugged her mother and then turned to Silas. "Mom, this is Silas Shag."

He held out his hand. "Please to meet you Mrs. Novak." He was laying on the Southern drawl like it was his job. Casey rolled her eyes.

"Please call me Colleen," she shook his hand and smiled at him; she even smiled like Casey. "Or Mom, which ever."

"Yes, ma'am." At that moment, two small girls came running down the stairs, and attacked Casey.

"Auntie Casey!" She hugged both girls in turn.

"Hi girls." She said. They were both young, the smaller one looked about six the older one eight maybe.

"Girls say hello to Mr. Shag." Colleen pushed them towards Silas a bit.

Silas smiled and waved, but it did no good; they both showed skepticism. Time to put all he had learned in SVU to the test. "Please," he got down on eye level with them, and held out his hand. "Call me Silas. What are your names?"

The older one shook his hand first, looking him square in the eye. "Delilah."

"Delilah…" Silas repeated. "What pretty name."

"I'm Cristina!" The younger one grabbed Silas' hand and shook it too.

"Both beautiful names." He smiled at them both and then stood back up. Casey flashed him a reassuring smile.

"Come to the kitchen! Come to the kitchen!" Colleen pushed both of them into the kitchen, where the rest of the adults were seated. There were three large red-haired men and a small brunette woman seated at a large table. An older man with greying hair and thick mustache stood up and hugged Casey; they chatted in another language, Czech probably, the same one Casey sometimes lapsed into during sex. That's when Silas knew he was driving her so crazy she couldn't think straight enough to realize she was speaking in another language. Sure, Silas could speak Italian, French, and even a bit of Latin, but since there were major differences in Germanic and Romantic languages, Silas couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Dad," she pulled Silas forward. "This is Silas Shag, my fiancé."

"Ah, Mr. Silas." Mr. Novak held out his hand. Silas shook it. "Pleased to finally meet you." He had a thick Germanic accent.

"Pleased to meet you as well, sir."

As soon as Silas spoke, one of her brothers perked up. "Casey didn't tell us you were from down south." One of her brothers stood up, and held out his hand. He was dressed nicely, hair slicked back, clearly a businessman. He was also the smallest of the three; from the way he held himself, he looked the ringleader of the three, the manipulator. "From where?"

"New Orleans." Silas said.

"Really? I think I have some associates down there." Silas shook his hand. "I'm Carl Junior, by the way."

"Nice to meet you."

The largest one stood up. "Hi, Silas. I'm Connor, and that's my wife Karen." He pointed the brunette, who waved to him. Silas shook Connor's hand; He was clearly the teddy bear of the family, strong but kind.

"Pleasure to meet you."

The last brother stood up. "I'm Corey." They shook hands, and then Corey quickly sat back down. He profiled like the submissive one, shy, quiet.

"Silas." He introduced himself for the umpteenth time.

"Both of you, sit!" Colleen ordered. Silas sat down next to Connor, out of fear. Casey slid in next to him, amusement all over her face. "Drinks?"

"Just a glass of wine," Casey said. "I'm designated driver tonight, so don't let me have too much."

"And Silas? You seem like a whiskey sort of man." Colleen was spot on.

"Yes, ma'am, you're correct."

"She has a knack for guessing what kind of drinks people like." Connor chuckled.

"She should work at the BAU then. We like good judges of character." Silas laughed weakly.

"BA-what?" Carl Sr. asked. "What the hell is that?"

"It's the branch of the FBI he works for, Dad." Casey explained. Colleen set their drinks down in front of them.

"Oh, I'm Irish, it's in my blood." Colleen laughed.

They all drank in silence for a bit. "So, Silas," Connor began. "Why are you up in New York with Manhattan SVU instead of an FBI base somewhere?"

"I was originally stationed here in Virginia, at Quantico with the rest of my team." Casey could see he was struggling to find a way to word the next part right without coming right out and saying 'I was shot by a serial killer and almost fell off the deep end after'. "I had an accident and had to take a break from serial killers for a bit. I had worked with SVU before as a consultant, so my boss suggested that I helped out there until I was ready to come back."

"Must've been some accident." Carl Jr. mumbled. Colleen glared at him, and quickly said something in Czech. Carl Jr. rolled his eyes and sipped his martini.

"So," Colleen turned back to Silas, "When are your parents coming up from New Orleans to help with the planning?"

_Shit, shit, shit._ Silas was right; this was going from bad to worse in 2.7 seconds. They were asking Silas all the wrong questions, and now it was just about to get awkward.

"Uh…" She could feel him tensing up; Casey quickly grabbed his hand. "They're both dead."

An awkward silence draped itself over the table. "More things Casey doesn't tell us about her beau." Carl Jr. said, taking another sip of his martini. _He drank a martini for Christ's sake!_ Silas wasn't going to take it.

Before he could defend his fiancée's honor, Casey spat something to her brother in Czech.

"Cassandra Nicole Novak!" Colleen looked surprised, but amused.

Silas couldn't help but chuckle at this; he had never heard anyone call Casey by her full name before.

Connor, the pacifist, tried to ease the tension. "We're sorry."

"It's ok, you didn't know; Casey did the same thing on our first date." Casey went from holding his hand, to giving him a pinch. Silas kept his happy face on, though; he just took another swig of whiskey.

"So, Mr. Silas." Carl Sr. spoke now. "Where you go to school?"

"Loyola for my bachelors and NYU for my masters. I'm working on Doctorates now."

"In what?"

"Psychology and Criminology."

"Very good, very good." Carl Sr. looked him over. "You look like a strong man; you play sports? You look like wide receiver."

"I ran track in college; I still run now, and I play some pickup games whenever the precinct has them." He shrugged. "I do watch a lot of football."

"A bit too much." Casey mumbled as she took a sip of her wine.

"Who you like?"

"The Saints of course."

All of the Novak men laughed a bit. "You're joking, right?" Carl Jr. asked.

"No, I having a feeling they're going to win a Superbowl soon."

"Keep dreaming…"

"So you run track? What event?" Carl Sr. said getting back on topic.

"Four by two indoor, four by one outdoor."

"You anchor?"

"Of course."

"Good." Carl Sr. put a hand on Casey's shoulder. "Casey get scholarship for softball, you know that?"

"I did." Silas slid a hand onto Casey's knee, and gave a little squeeze. "She's very good; she and the other ADAs owned my sorry group of detectives."

"Dad, Silas almost went to school for baseball too." Casey interjected; she had a smug smile on her face.

"What?" Carl Sr. almost choked on his wine. "Why you not go and play baseball?"

"Well, all the schools that offered me didn't have what I wanted to study, so I decided to go to John Jay instead. Besides I've always liked track better."

Carl Sr. said something in Czech; Casey and Connor laughed a bit, and Corey said something. While the Novaks were chattering away, Silas took another longer sip of his whiskey and made eye contact with Karen. She gave him a look that just said 'get used to it'.

Silas finished off his drink. "Oh, looks like Silas's out, Mom!" Carl Jr. pointed to Silas' glass.

"Oh looks like he is!" without even asking if he even wanted some more, Colleen poured him another shot.

Silas looked at Casey, his eyes begging her to get them out of there; she just smiled innocently.

Silas figured he was going to need the drinks; it was going to be a long night.

XXX

"And Carl, junior not senior, I love your dad, happiest drunk I've ever met, hands down…" A drunk Silas slurred over in the passenger's seat. "Junior, man he profiles like an organized sociopath!"

Casey couldn't help but smile at him. Four drinks into the night, and both Silas and her father were acting like they were the best of friends. Once he loosened up (and by that she meant, get both her father and Silas completely plastered), the evening turned out well.

"Listen, the guy uses half a can of hair gel and drinks martinis. If that doesn't scream manipulator, I don't know what does." Silas leaned over, so close to her, she could smell the whiskey on his breath. "He was the ringleader when you guys were kids, wasn't he? The planner, right?"

"Yes."

Silas fell back in his seat. "Correct again!" he laughed.

"I thought you said you said you weren't going to profile my family."

"I can't help it! It's second nature… I do it without even thinking!" Silas belched. They looked at each other and laughed. "Did you hear that?"

Casey chuckled. "I'm glad you had a good time." She said quietly. She was expecting some loud, wordy excuse about how much he hated it, but there was nothing. Casey glanced over at him. Silas was out cold. "Good night, Silas." She whispered, using one hand to brush the hair out of his face.

XXX

I hope you enjoyed, and I'm sorry about not updating for a few days.

Notice how all the Novak's start with C? Yeah, I thought that was funny… And how Silas is a Saints fan? AND how he predicted the Saints winning the Superbowl in 2010? What a stud…

Now, please review, or I hold the next chapter hostage…


	19. It's All For You For What You Found

Ok this chapter has spoilers for Criminal Minds, episodes "…And Back" and "100".

**It's All For You For What You Found (XIX)**

"My head is killing me."

"It should be." Casey handed Silas a cup of coffee. "You had about six glasses of whiskey."

"Oh geeze." Silas downed the coffee and lay back on the bed. "Where are we anyway?"

"We are in a hotel a few miles outside of Quantico. I was too tired to drive all the way back to New York. I figured you might have wanted to go and visit your friends."

Silas sat up a bit and tried to smiled, but fell back over. "Oh Jesus, my head."

"I'll give you a bit before we have to go." Casey kissed his knee that stuck out from under the sheets. "But hurry it up, I'd like to be home by tonight."

XXX

Silas' hangover seemed to go away by his third cup of coffee, so much so that he was able to drive to the FBI headquarters.

He was still an active agent, so he just flashed his credentials, and got them inside. Casey didn't like the feds that much; the only reason she tolerated Silas as a federal agent was because most of the time he didn't act like one. But the whole building was crawling with stereotypical feds, with their expensive suits and their fancy base of operations. Silas didn't seem to mind though. He just walked through the building, like he owned the place.

Finally they reached a room with a few elevators, and an old lady sitting behind a desk. Silas walked up to her and with his best drawl and laid-back smile, crooned, "Hello, Sylvia."

The woman looked up, flashing annoyance, then surprise. "Silas Shag!" she exclaimed. "I thought you were up in New York!"

"I am, I just had to come down to say hello to everyone." He took Casey's hand and pulled her forward. "And to introduce my fiancée, Casey, to everyone."

"Oh, congratulations!" She looked at Casey. "I've known Silas since he was a little boy. As soon as he was old enough to talk he would tell everyone he was going to be an agent, just like his dad." Sylvia looked Silas over. "You look just like your father. Except without that atrocious haircut, God it was awful."

Silas chuckled. "You've always been a riot, Sylvia."

The old woman smiled. "I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Me too." Silas motioned to the elevator. "May we?"

"Of course!" Sylvia punch in a code, and the doors opened. "I won't tell them you're coming either."

"Thanks." Silas said with a wink, and led Casey to the doors. The ride up was short, and the doors opened quickly. Silas poked his head out and smiled. Casey followed suit and saw a large… eccentric woman who was about the farthest thing from a stereotypical fed you could ever imagine, wearing a colorful dress, huge plastic jewelry that clanged about when she walked, her hair bleach blonde and pink, was pouring over the contents of a file as she walked down the hall on five inch neon green heels.

"Hey! Garcia!" Silas called out to her.

The woman's head snapped up, and he jaw dropped. "Ohmygawd." She said and then booked it as fast as her heels would carry her to the two of them, and then bear hugged Silas. "Oh. My. God." She said again. She broke the hug, and looked him over. "Oh my God, you got old." She was referencing the little bits of silver at the roots of his sideburns and in the stubble of his unshaved face.

"I know." He grinned. "But you just got more fantastic."

"Why thank you, sir." She held her hand out to Casey. "I'm Penelope Garcia, the BAU's technical analyst. To whom do I owe the pleasure?"

Casey shook her hand. "ADA Casey Novak. I'm Silas' fiancée."

Garcia looked from Silas to Casey, then back to Silas. "I'm not about to be punked am I?"

Silas shook his head. "Nope."

"Congrats!" Garcia hugged Silas, then Casey. "I'm so happy for the both of you." She looked at Casey. "It's so good you work in the system, or you wouldn't know what kind of hell these guys go through on a daily basis."

Casey took Silas' hand. "Yeah, I don't know who else would be able to put up with him. Whenever I get angry at him, he always tells me I'm not really angry because my eyebrows aren't doing something. It usually takes something like a shoe or whatever to be thrown at him, and then he says that my eyebrows are doing the whatever."

"Well they're supposed to-" Silas began, but Garcia cut him off.

"Enough face talk. Come on, inside. Everyone'll be happy to see you." Garcia let them through a pair of glass doors, with the BAU's coat of arms on it.

Inside, the large office space was abuzz. Silas waved to a large man with a shaved head and chocolate skin, as he walked by. The man stopped, and did a double take. "Silas Shag." He shook Silas' hand and smiled showing off a set of perfect white teeth. "How long has it been?"

"Too long." Silas presented the man to Casey. "Casey, this is SSA Derek Morgan; Morgan, this is my fiancée, ADA Casey Novak."

They shook hands. "Please to meet you." Morgan said.

"Likewise."

A skinny, awkward looking kid poked up from behind Morgan, his long brown hair hanging over his face. "An ADA?" He looked Casey over. "Oh, where are my manners. I'm Dr. Spencer Reid." He held out his hand. Casey shook it, looking him over as well; he couldn't have been over thirty.

"Doctor?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Yes." Reid said. "I have . in mathematics, chemistry, and engineering. I have Bachelors in psychology and sociology, and working on one in philosophy."

"Wow." Casey said, impressed.

"He's got an IQ of 187, and read twenty-thousand words a minute," Silas said. "If I remember correctly."

"Correct." Reid said. "Good to see you, Shag."

"You as well, Reid." They shook hands.

A woman with dark hair pushed he way into the cluster of agents. "What's all the commotion about?" She asked. Then like all the other agents, her jaw dropped. "Wow. We thought you'd gone off to Rio or something." The two hugged.

"Yeah, I wish." Silas chuckled. "Emily, my fiancée, ADA Casey Novak. Casey, SSA Emily Prentiss."

"Pleasure." Both women shook hands.

Another woman, this one with blonde hair pushed her way into the group, and hugged Silas. "And hello to you too, JJ."

"It's so good to see you." She turned around and held her hand out to Casey. "I heard fiancée, and got really excited. SSA Jennifer Jaureu, but you can call me JJ."

"ADA Casey Novak." They shook hands.

"Ah, here they come." Morgan said looking at a set of stairs leading down from some offices. Two men were walked towards them; one was older, clearly Italian with his thick dark hair, and goatee, the other clearly a fed, with his pressed suit and tie, face expressionless.

"Rossi, Hotch, good to see you both." Silas shook both of their hands.

"You as well." The fed said.

"Casey this is SSA Aaron Hotchner." He motioned to the fed. "And SSA David Rossi." He gestured to the Italian.

"ADA Casey Novak." She shook both of their hands in turn.

"What's the occasion for the surprise visit?" Rossi asked.

Everyone laughed a bit. "Casey and I are getting married, so we came down to visit her family, and on the way back, I thought it'd be a good idea for her to visit mine."

"Aw, that's so cute." Garcia smiled.

"We're glad you came down." Hotch turned to Casey. "We've worked on cases with Manhattan SVU before. I've also read some of high profile cases; you're quite successful."

Casey was surprised by this. "Why thank you."

"Silas." Hotch turned toward Silas now. "I need to speak to you for a second." He turned to go up the stairs and Silas followed, but turned back.

"Don't scare her off." He pointed to Reid. "You hear me?"

"Why are you looking at me?" The whole group chuckled, as Silas jogged to catch up to Hotch.

Once the laughter stopped, all the profilers could see the concern on Casey's face. "Just some technical stuff with his transfer." JJ said coolly. "Why don't we show you around?"

XXX

Silas watched his friends descend upon Casey, pulling her in about twenty different directions at once, happiness and confusion on her face; he smiled, glad his teammates approved of her.

He turned back to Hotch. "I know what this is about."

"I know you do."

"I'm fine. I don't need to see a shrink."

"Silas, we all don't get sleep every now and then, but what you went through something that no one should ever have to go through-"

"Hotch!" Silas snapped. "You went through the same damn thing! You were attacked by a serial killer; you bled out on the floor, you heard someone you cared about murdered in cold blood! You don't see a shrink!"

"Actually," Hotch looked at Silas, eyes softer than usual. "I do; and I don't know how you're doing it without talking to someone."

"I just try not to think about it. I focus on work."

"It almost got you killed for a second time." Hotch nodded out the window to Casey, who was listening to Reid talk about something nobody else seemed to care about. "Silas if you keep it inside, it'll eat you up. Before Foyett, I just looked at cases, and it ate me up; it destroyed my marriage. After Foyett, I almost lost myself. I can see it happening to you."

"I don't need to listen to this." Silas turned to leave.

"How many times have you thought about eating your gun?"

Silas' hand paused on the doorknob. There was silence.

Hotch pointed to Casey. "Do you see that out there? That is your inspiration now. Jack got me through it. Casey can help you now; you're not alone anymore Silas." Silas turned back to Hotch. "Get help, Silas. If not for yourself, then for Casey."

Silas didn't say anything at first. "You know," he was so quiet Hotch almost didn't hear him. "I saw a shrink the first few weeks. I felt… like I was being judged though, so I stopped." He looked Hotch in the eye. "I don't want to be labeled crazy."

"You won't be."

"I don't want to be let go again."

"You never were; you're free to come back whenever you want."

Silas gave Hotch a small smile. "I did find Casey though."

"You did. Are you happy?"

"I am. I love her."

"Things happen for a reason, Silas." Hotch walked over to him and put a comforting hand on Silas' shoulder. "All of these awful things that happened in your life led you to something good." Hotch opened the door. "Just promise me you'll look into it." Hotch extended his hand.

Silas shook it. "I will. Thanks."

Hotch led him back. "Come back whenever you're ready; We'll be waiting."

"…and that is how the ancient peoples discovered soap." Reid finished.

Morgan was awkward slow clapping. "Thank you, pretty boy; Casey is probably going to break off the engagement now."

"No, it was uh…" Casey tried to find a nice way to say it. "Fascinating."

"Thank you Ms. Novak." Reid looked at the rest of his team with a look that said 'at least someone thinks so'.

Silas wrapped an arm around her waist, and pulled her close. "It was good to see everyone again, but unfortunately we must be on our way; Casey wants to be home by tonight, and we still have one more stop to make."

Everyone groaned, and then said their goodbyes.

Finally they reached the parking lot after what felt like an endless string of goodbyes. They were walking hand and hand out to their car, Casey chattering about her new friends. "…And the girls said next time they were in New York, we would all go out for drinks like a girl's night."

Silas smiled. "I'm glad you like them."

"I just can't believe you used to practically live with them! What a bunch of characters…They had better be invited to the wedding…" Casey looked at Silas; he had this faraway look in his eyes. "Hey? You ok? What did Hotch have to say to you?"

"Oh, nothing. Tell ya later." He slid into the car.

"Promise?" He looked at her, he greens eyes basically screaming 'it's ok, you can talk to me'.

"Promise." He turned the engine over.

"So who's this other friend you've got to see?"

Silas smiled. "You'll see."

XXX

So, Silas used to be a part of the BAU! I was a Criminal Minds freak before I even knew about Law and Order, so I had to put them in. I know, I know, I basically made Dunning into the Reaper, but I wasn't feeling too creative when I wrote it.

Anyone get Reid's soap reference? First person to say where I got that from gets a cookie.

Who could be Silas' other friend? Guesses?


	20. And Then Forever Roam

Geeze, where have all my reviews gone? And terribly sorry, 7Seven7 you are wrong my friend, all of Mr. Shag's family are dead unfortunately, but I hope you like this guy just as much!

**And Then Forever Roam (XX)**

"Ah, D.C." Silas had all the windows down, and was inhaling the air. "Man, I miss D.C."

Casey had been to D.C. plenty of times, but she loved it even more every time she came. They passed all the important buildings and monuments, and drove into the business district. Silas pulled into the lot of a huge glass and concrete building.

"We're here."

Where 'here' was Casey had no clue. Silas got out and jogged up the stairs to the front door. Casey followed.

Inside the building was just as modern as it looked from the outside. There pictures of famous people making faces along one wall; in the middle was a sign that read 'The Lightman Group'. It sounded familiar, but Casey couldn't remember where she had heard it.

There was a woman talking to the receptionist at a desk up front.

Silas smiled at the sight of them. "Hey!" The older woman, maybe early fifties, late forties looked up and at the sight of Silas, her jaw went slack.

"Silas?" She asked.

Silas held out his arms. "In the flesh."

She quickly walked over to him, and hugged him. "What a lovely surprise!"

They released each other. "You look well." Silas said. "Since when did you start wearing such bold colors?" he looked over her professional, yet audacious turquoise dress.

"Since me and my husband divorced."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not." The woman smiled at him again. "You seem to be doing better."

"I feel much better." He stepped aside and pulled Casey closer to him. "Gillian, I want to introduce you to my fiancée, ADA Casey Novak. Casey, this is Dr. Gillian Foster."

Both women shook hands. "Pleased to meet you." Casey said.

"You as well. When Silas was here a little over a year ago to help with a case, he told me he was seeing someone special. I'm glad you two are happy." Gillian looked back to Silas. "So what brings you to town?"

"Casey brought me to meet my future in-laws, so I dragged her over here to meet her's."

"I'm flattered." She led them down the hall. "Cal, I hope, should be flattered as well, but you know him…" She looked over her shoulder at Casey. "Please don't mind him, he can be a bit… discourteous to guests sometimes."

Silas let out a snort. "Ya think?" Gillian led them into an office, where a man sat behind a desk, legs kicked up, smiling at them, mischievously when they walked in the door. He had grey hair, a large nose, and rough stubble across his chin.

"Silas Shag." He had a thick English accent. "Who's the looker?"

Casey blushed. "Good to see you too Cal." Silas said. "Cal this is…"

"Your fiancée, ADA Casey Novak." He swung his legs down and walked over to them, holding out his hand for Casey. "Dr. Cal Lightman." She shook it warily. It was scary how he knew her name.

"You've been creeping on the security cameras again?" Foster asked. "Stop trying to scare the poor girl!"

"Sorry, love." He had a creepy smile. It was weird how much he and Silas were the same though; they were dressed the same, dark jeans, dark dress shirt, long black suit jacket. They even walked the same way, slouched a bit, and both of them had ridiculous accents. She could also see where Silas got his cocky attitude from; Casey was getting the same vibe from Lightman that she did when she first met Silas. "You know, I married a prosecutor too. Let's just hope your marriage doesn't go up in flames as well."

"Well," Silas said, trying to ease the tension a bit. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, I don't count all the little cases we've bumped into each other on, so it's been a very long time." Lightman looked at Casey. "When he was nineteen, I lectured at Loyola, when I was first getting started. According to Silas, learning about microexpressions was like drug to him, he couldn't get enough. So, during the summer, breaks, weekends sometimes, he would fly up here and learn from the best."

Lightman looked at Silas, and gave him a weird look. "I was hoping he'd be my partner when he got out of college. Take over the business. People like young faces on things. But nope!" He pointed an accusing finger at Silas. "You go and join the bleeding FBI!"

"Life sucks, huh, Cal?"

He put and hand on Silas' shoulder; his expression softened. "It sure does." He looked at Gillian. "Take Red here and show her around. If you or Manhattan SVU are ever in need anything, I'm sure you'll find our facilities have whatever you need." He shook Casey's hand again. "Congrats."

Casey was speechless. "Thank you, so much, Dr. Lightman." Gillian led Casey out of the office. Silas went and shut the door, and then walked right up to Lightman.

"I want you to see if I'm telling the truth." Silas said. "I am over being shot and almost killed by Joseph Dunning in 2005. I am able to move on with my life."

Cal shook his head. "I'm sorry mate."

Silas sat down and yanked at his hair. "Goddamnit…"

"Silas, you don't just get over those kind of things." Lightman said. "Not for a very long time."

"But I want to." Silas leaned back and exhaled. "I still have nightmares, I can't sleep, but it's not just about Dunning anymore; it's every time I've been shot, every dead body I've ever seen."

"Listen, I'm no good at this. Foster's better at this kind of thing." Lightman sat down next to him. "Why don't you just stop?"

Silas gave Cal a weak smile. "If I didn't do this, who would?"

They didn't say anything for a bit. "Call Foster sometime." Cal advised.

Silas stood up, and nodded. "Good to see you, Cal." he went to holdout his hand, but Cal just walked over and hugged him.

XXX

"Cal's just a bit unorthodox; once you get to know him he's a good guy."

"Oh I have no doubt about that, but for the first few minutes, he skeeved me out, big time." It was dark out of the car. They had just gotten back in New York, and were about an hour from home. Casey let out a mammoth yawn. "His headquarters is fantastic though, we'll defiantly have to take up his offer sometime, if we cross state lines into D.C."

"Tired?"

"Yeah."

"Go to sleep then."

Casey did not need to be told twice. She was out in less than eight seconds.

When they got home, Silas carried her and their bags up to the apartment. He tucked her in, and slid into bed after her. Even though she was asleep, she sensed his presence, and rolled closer to him. Silas mused over everything that both his mentors had said. It was getting worse, not better; He had to do something like Hotch had said, if not for himself, then for the beautiful woman asleep in his arms.

The next day at his office, he called Foster.

"Foster." Her clipped voice came over the phone.

"Gillian? It's Silas."

"Silas? What's up?" Her voice sounded not surprised, like she had been expecting this call.

"I…" It killed him to say it, but he had to. "I need some help."

"How so?"

"I don't sleep, I have awful nightmares when I do, sometimes I flashback…"

"To what?"

Silas let out a dry chuckle. "I've been shot nine times, stabbed thirteen time, been wounded on the job forty-nine times, and have seen so many horrific scenes, I've lost count. Take your pick."

"Why do you think this is all affecting you?"

Silas inhaled. "Gillian," he said evenly. "Do you know what's it's like to die? To have your whole life laid out before of you? To look down and see yourself dying, and not be able to do anything about it?"

"No."

"Good." Silas said, voice tight. "Because no one should ever have to…"

Later on that evening, Silas came home to find Casey making dinner. Her back was to him, and she hadn't seem to have heard him come in, so he came up behind her, slid his arms around her midsection, and kissed her neck. She let out a little gasp of surprise, but then melted into him.

"What are you cooking?" Silas asked, leaning over her to examine the food.

"Some chicken seafood thing."

"Smells good. How was work?"

"Langdon got a motion passed to suppress one of the major pieces of evidence I need to win my case."

"That sucks."

"Sure does. How was your day?"

Casey felt him exhale. "I… I think we need to talk for a bit."

Casey looked at him over her shoulder. "About what?" She could see how tired he was.

He held on tighter to her. "The nightmares are getting worse Casey, I need you to help me."

"Was that what you talked to Hotch and Lightman about yesterday?"

"Yeah." He sighed. "Foster's a shrink, so I talked to her a bit today, and she said that we should talk, you know, about my… problems."

Casey turned around to face him. "Dinner's almost done, why don't you sit down and we can talk over dinner?" she brushed her lips over his.

He took her face in his hand, and kissed her again. "Thank you. For understanding."

"Silas, I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through," she said. "But I'll try to help as best as I can. I love you."

"I love you too." Silas didn't like to ask for help, but he had to admit he needed some now; and who better to help him, then the one person he cared about the most in this whole world.

XXX

Lie to Me is another one of my favorite shows and when I came up with the character of Silas Shag I basically took Cal, made him younger and better looking, Southern, and filthy stinkin' rich.

Hope you enjoyed poking a bit into Silas' past a bit more. NEXT CHAPTER: THE WEDDING! YAY! Now REVIEW! The more you review, the more likely is it that I may or may not post it today…


	21. You're Not Alone

**You're Not Alone (XXI)**

About Six Months Later

They had wanted a small wedding in Central Park; immediate family, close friends. Why would that ever be the case? As soon as Colleen had mentioned her youngest daughter was getting married, the entire O'Hagan family flooded in from all corners of the United States and from Ireland. After that there was no stopping the Novaks from the Czech Republic from coming to New York to see Casey get married.

The grand total; 289 members of Casey's extended family alone, 74 of their friends, including SVU, the whole BAU team, the Lightman Group, and people from the DA's office, zero people from Silas' 'family'. His staff on his estate down South couldn't even come up, because it was the middle of tourist season.

Just going over the numbers in his head made Silas queasy. The only reason he made it through the night with Casey's immediate family was because he was completely plastered. Unfortunately, as the groom he couldn't get hammered today.

"You ok there, mate?" Silas looked over at his best man, Cal Lightman.

"No."_ But Cal already knows that._ "I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"Now that wouldn't be good, with all of these people here." Cal motioned over the sea of people, about 75% of them on Casey's side.

"Yeah." Silas swallowed back some bile. "Especially since I need to meet all of them later."

"That sucks." Cal clapped Silas on the shoulder, and gave him a shake. "Look, wave to Emily!" he said waving to his daughter.

Silas gave his goddaughter a small wave; Emily was sitting next to Lena Petrovsky, and both women thought he was waving to them, so both waved back. "Who's that looker?"

"A Judge." Silas said. "I don't think we even invited her…"

"Oh yeah, she looks like a party crasher."

"Good God, can't we just get this thing started…" Silas smoothed out the lapels of his jacket; in typical Shag fashion, he was dressed in an expensive suit, tailored exactly to his shape, with a jacket that brushed his knees. Cal wore the exact same thing, and if Cal was a few years younger and a bit taller they could have been brothers.

"Just look forward to the honeymoon." Cal said. "Where are you going anyway?"

"Italy." As soon as Garcia had divulged from Casey where they were going for their honeymoon, she begged Hotch to give them their private jet to take them overseas; It would get them there in a little over five hours, winds permitting. Erin Strauss, still technically his boss, gave him clearance to use it, so as in the words of Garcia, 'to not look like a bitch'.

"Going to the Vatican?"

"Yes-"

"Be sure to bang her somewhere in there."

"Jesus, Cal!"

Cal waggled his eyebrows. "Erotic huh?"

"Not really!" Silas looked at all of Casey's family; they were all loud, half speaking in Czech, the other half speaking with such thick Irish brogues that Silas couldn't understand any of them. "Please stop talking about how I'm going to screw her on our honeymoon…" Silas said lowering his voice.

"Oh, so you already had the Vatican thing planned?"

"Cal, that's not what I-" Before Silas could finish his sentence, the priest came and stood under the arch above them.

"Mr. Shag?" He was a small man who was balding a bit. "Are you ready to begin?"

Silas swallowed. "Let's do this."

The priest motioned towards the string quartet, which began playing. The bridesmaids, accompanied by groomsmen, walked down the aisle; Morgan and Garcia, Elliot and Olivia, Munch and JJ, Reid and Emily, and Hotch and Gillian (Silas was a bit surprised that Casey had chosen Garcia, JJ, Emily, and Gillian as bridesmaids, but they had about three or four girls' nights since they met, and Casey really liked them so he didn't complain).

Next came Mary Clark as the maid of honor; like Silas, Casey had asked her longtime mentor and friend to be there next her when she got married. Silas had only met Clark a few times, most notably during the investigation against a toy-mogul, Billy Tripplie, who was accused of molesting a young boy named JJ, in which Clark had been appointed to represent the boy; she seemed like a nice lady, and she and Casey were close, like him and Cal.

In speaking of Cal, he seemed to like Clark too; he gave her a wink, and that Lightman mysterious smile. Silas surprised to see her smile back. If they hooked up, it would be what Silas and Casey would be like in twenty years or so.

The string quartet started to play 'Cannon in D', and everyone stood up, blocking Silas' view of the aisle. He didn't want to make a fool of himself and crane his neck around everyone to see her, so he just leaned over just a bit to see…

Silas had check to make sure his mouth wasn't hanging open like an idiot when he saw Casey. He felt Cal give him a little elbow in the ribs. "Stop drooling. You look like a buffoon."

She looked beautiful as always, yet even more than usual. Her dress was simple but elegant, strapless, nothing to poufy, that showed off her goddess-like body, accenting curves. Her strawberry-blonde hair was pulled back into an intricate chignon with a stray loose curls falling to frame her face. They made eye contact, and simultaneously grinned at each other.

Silas stepped forward a few paces; Carl Sr., who had walked Casey down the aisle, shook Silas' hand, and then joined his and Casey's. Silas then led Casey up to the minister.

"Hi." He whispered.

"Hi." She whispered back.

"You're beautiful.

"And you've been well groomed."

"Aren't I always?"

Casey chuckled a bit as they reached the minister. "We are gathered here today to join Silas Atticus Shag and Cassandra Nicole Novak here in holy matrimony…"

The ceremony dragged on forever, it seemed. Finally they were about to exchange vows.

Silas went first. "Casey, when we first met, we didn't really get along that well, and if you have told me we were going to get married two years later, I would have laughed. But now, I see how much of a wonderful, caring person you are. I love you, more then you'll ever know. You're my best friend, my partner, my soul mate."

Casey went next, tears in her eyes. "Silas, I didn't give you a chance when we first met; I wish I had so we could have spent more time together. You are one of the bravest people I have ever met. I love you, and I wouldn't trade our relationship for the world."

The priest looked at Lightman. "The rings?"

Lightman looked at him like he was crazy, and Silas' heart skipped a beat; if Cal didn't have the rings, he might just kill him right then and there. "Oh, yeah, here they are!" Lightman pulled them out of his jacket's pocket, and handed the rings over.

Silas took Casey's, a simple ring with silver band and a single diamond set in it, and slid it on her finger saying; "Casey, take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

At that moment, Casey was glad she had decided to go with waterproof mascara. She picked up Silas' ring, another simple silver band, and slid it onto his finger. "Silas, take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

"Silas, do you take Casey to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do."

"And Casey, do you take Silas to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do."

"Then by the power invested in me by the Lord, our God, I now pronounce you man and wife." The minister looked at Casey and Silas, who were still holding each other's hands, and smiled. "You may now kiss the bride."

Silas did not need to be told twice. He took Casey's face and kissed her. He could hear cheers and whoops, and he could see flashes going off, but they were far away. Right now it was just him and Casey.

XXX

Le gasp! Ranowa! *attempts to revive* Don't die on me like that! Glad you enjoyed Cal last chapter, this chapter, and when he gives his speech at the reception next chapter…

VampirePrincess, if you didn't already figure it out by Ranowa's uhh… reaction, Lie to Me is a fantastic show, as is Criminal Minds. Those two, along with SVU are basically the only shows I watch.

And last but not least, 7Seven7, I can't even tell you how much I hate loopholes… *tosses cookie* Here ya go.

Maybe once I finish writing this, I'll do a cross-over with SVU ad Criminal Minds where we get to see what both the ladies and the guys do on their GNO and poker nights, respectively. (PSssSST! Lemme know if you like that idea!)

Now review! Or there shall be no drunken tomfoolery during the next chapter!


	22. Her Eyes Turn Green

**Her Eyes Turn Green and She Seems to Be Happy (XXII)**

Silas knew hard-core Irishmen could drink, but Casey's family was ridiculous. Since there were so many guests, a receiving line would take all night, so they just decided to go and thank everyone for coming themselves. They had just thanked a few of Casey's third cousins who almost spilled brandy on her dress; It would have been laughed off if this wasn't the fifth time this had happened.

The newlyweds had just had their first dance to the Vitamin String Quartet's version of 'Life in Technicolor'. They had greeted more people, then Casey had had her dance with her father who was trying his hardest not to cry, unlike Colleen who had been balling since the first note had been played on the first violin back in Central Park. Since Silas couldn't have a dance with his mother, since she was dead, he had a dance at the same time with Gillian, who he had grown closer to ever since their on the phone counseling sessions. After they hadn't seen each other for a bit, as everyone wanted a dance with the bride and/or groom.

Finally they had broken away and went back to thanking guests.

"Jesus, Case, if your family lived here I would recommend them all for serious alcohol rehabilitation…" Silas said, as they left yet another table full of her Irish cousins, all of who were drunk out of their minds and speaking so fast, that only Casey could understand them.

"You're just saying that because you can't drink as much as them."

"I'm from New Orleans," Silas playfully growled and pulled her towards him. "I could out-drink these sissies any day of the week."

"We'll see about that." She broke free from his grip, and led him on to the next table. "Wait until you meet my cousin Pat."

Silas was about to ask which Pat when he realized what table they had come to; Arthur Branch, Liz Donnelly, Lena Petrovsky, Erin Strauss, and Don Cragen were all seated at one table. Great.

"We're going to have to do it eventually," Casey whispered, reading his face. "Might as well get it over with now." With that she led him over to the table of death.

"Congrats, you two." Branch stood up and shook both Casey and Silas' hands.

"I did enjoy the wave you gave me before the ceremony, Silas," Petrovsky said. "Until I realized it was for the nice young lady next to me, what was her name…?"

"Emily. She's my goddaughter."

"Emily, nice girl. You must have been pretty young when she was born." Silas smiled a bit at this; he was only twenty-four when he had been named Emily's godfather, and it meant a lot to him that his mentor and one of the few people he really trusted named him godfather of his child. "You two finally managed to break away from the dance floor it seems."

"Yes ma'am." Silas said, still wondering if they had even invited the judge.

"In speaking of dancing," Liz interrupted, "I expect a dance later, Agent."

"Same goes for you." Branch pointed to Casey.

"Don't worry, your Honor," Silas told Liz. "It's my goal to dance with as many women as possible before I'm stuck dancing with this one for the rest of my life."

Casey playfully hit him. "Watch out though; he can't dance."

"I was raised in aristocratic New Orleans, of course I know how to dance!"

"Only waltzes though. You won't last a minute when we switch to real music and not this classical stuff."

"She's got a point." Cragen finally spoke. "Congratulations."

"Thanks, Don." Silas shook his hand.

"Yes," Strauss, who looked uncomfortable, said. "And the jet will be waiting at a private track in JFK."

"We can't thank you enough for that." Casey told Strauss. "It's nice to see all of you, thank you for coming."

"Don't decide to stay in Italy!" Branch joked. "We're going to miss you, Casey."

"Oh we will." Cragen took a sip of his water. "You as well, Silas."

Silas smiled and nodded, and then they booked it out of there as fast as they could. "We survived!" Casey celebrated, grabbing a glass of champagne off a waiter's tray as he passed.

"Just barely." Silas grabbed it and downed half the glass; Casey polished off the rest. "Look!" he pointed to the dance floor where Clark and Lightman were dancing.

"That's going to be us in twenty years or so." Casey laughed.

"I was thinking that too." He kissed her. "Guess we're soul mates?"

"Guess so; we should get married or something." They laughed.

Casey paused for a moment afterwards. "Did we even invite Petrovsky?"

"Don't think so."

"And I have to dance with Branch."

"At least you don't have to dance with Donnelly; that'll be like dancing with a two by four with a stick up its ass."

Casey grabbed another drink off another passing waiter's tray. "This one's to get us through the night." She drank half then passed it onto Silas.

"Chin, chin, Mrs. Novak-Shag." He tipped the rest of it back, and then exhaled. "I just keep telling myself 'think about Italy…'. I hope you're as excited as I am."

"Oh I am. But I'm letting you know the first thing we do when we get to Florence is not going to be visiting the Monster of Florence killing sights; we're visiting something a little less… creepy. Like the Duomo."

"Hey, hey, I get it, but we are going to see them at some point, ok?"

"Fine."

"Technically, you could say the Duomo is creepy; the Medici brothers were attacked by the Pazzi conspirators and Giuliano was killed but Lorenzo-"

"Ok, you can tell me all about it later… Right now," She looked over the numerous tables they had yet to visit. "We must bravely charge into the fray."

"Into the fray." They were about to move onto a table with a bunch of drunk men speaking in Czech, when a voice came over the speakers.

"'Ello? Can I have everyone's attention?" Silas and Casey looked up; a slightly buzzed Cal Lightman was standing on the stage by the string quartet. "As the best man, I think I'm supposed to give a speech…"

"Oh God…" Silas breathed, the blood rushing to his face.

"Well, I met Silas when he was nineteen, he came up to me after I lectured at Loyola and told me that he loved my lecture and how I was much more interesting than his hundred year old professor."

Everyone chuckled a bit.

"I told the young Silas that I was glad he liked my sermon. He then asked if he could come up to the fledgling Lightman Group and study there on weekends. I asked him how he was going to do that, since the Lightman group was up in D.C. and he was studying down in Louisiana. He told me he had a private jet that would fly him up there. I asked him if he was that rich, he would donate to my business. He told me only if he could be my partner." Cal smirked. "He was always one to cut through the crap."

More chuckles. "Ever since, Silas has been my right arm. I've watched him grow from a quirky rich bastard with a knack for reading people to the relatively sophisticated FBI agent he is today. Even though we don't work together as much as I would like anymore, Silas," Cal held up his glass. "You are still one of my closest friends, and I wish the best of luck to you and your wife. Mazel tov." He drained the whole glass.

The room broke into cheers and applause. The newlyweds tried to move on, but Mark Clark took the microphone from Cal. "Well, I might as well give my speech now too." Casey buried her face in Silas' neck, feeling her own cheeks start to flush.

"When I met Casey, she was in her second year of law school, and got her internship at my office, clerking for me. Best clerk I've ever had, hands down; when she graduated, I begged her not to leave me to become an ADA. Where was I going to find a clerk as anal as she was?" Everyone laughed. "But, as exactly Cal said with Silas, I watched her grow from a law student going grey over her exams to a successful ADA who's going grey over, well…" Clark raised her glass. "Just about everything. Congratulations. I wish both you and your new husband the best of luck."

Everyone clapped and cheered as Mary toasted the couple.

The rest of the evening went off without a hitch: Silas decided to be evil and shove cake into Casey's face and Casey was only happy to return the favor; When the house band replaced the string quartet, Silas got up with them and played Cake's 'Short Skirt, Long Jacket', dedicating the song to Casey; Garcia caught the bouquet, and then shot a seductive look at Morgan.

At the end of the night, the couple quickly changed into a more comfortable change of clothes (a more comfortable suit for Silas, and a looser, shorter, aqua colored spring dress for Casey), got into a limo, and drove off to JFK to get on the BAU jet that was headed to Italy.

As the plan rolled down the runway, Silas looked over at his new wife; her eyes were closed, and her breathing was even (Casey had told him she wanted to save some energy for when they got to their hotel in Rome). It was when she unconsciously let her head fall onto his shoulder that Silas knew life was good.

XXX

Well, thank you all for enjoying the last chapter, hope you equally enjoyed this one; just a few quick shout-outs…

7Seven7: I said anyone who guessed who they were visiting next and got the answer right got a cookie; you said that Lightman was like his family, so technically you won.

VampirePrincess: Maybe not a sequel, more like a branch off kinda thing. I wasn't going to go into the honeymoon, but like GNO/Poker Night I might make it a separate story once I finish this one.

Ranowa: Hope you enjoyed Cal's speech! Maybe he'll return in future chapters…

SilvrBlade: Always nice to see new faces on the Shnovak review boards. :)

Anywho, I also had Mr. Shag sing 'Short Skirt, Long Jacket' because I heard the song on the radio one day, and I thought it basically described Casey. You know, she's got eyes that burn like cigarettes? Fingernails that shine like justice? She's touring the facilities, and picking up the slack? You know what, I'm doing a bad job of describing this, go listen to the song. NOW REVIEW, because the next chapter has something I bet you'll all enjoy a bit…


	23. Wondering What It Is

**Wondering What it is That's Going On With You (XXIII)**

About Four Months Later

(Back from Honeymoon for about One)

Casey was giving a closing statement in a case against a suspected child molester. Her head was fuzzy and her stomach was churning; she was trying to put as much passion into it as she could but she just wanted to sit down. She had felt like this for about a week, and the worst part of it all? She knew she wasn't really sick.

"…Do your duty." She instructed the jury. "Don't let this man walk free, or else he will continue to scar innocent children."

She quickly sat down and tried to look composed. Time seemed to drag on as the judge instructed the jury to make a decision blah, blah, blah. Finally they were let go, and Casey couldn't get her stuff together fast enough. She sprinted out and into the closest bathroom, dropped her briefcase, ran into a stall, and threw up. And then threw up again. And again.

When she was done, she leaned against the door, and sucked in the oxygen she needed right now.

"Casey?" _Oh shit, it's Olivia._ "Casey are you in here?"

Casey wiped her mouth and stepped out. "Hey, Liv." She tried to put on a smile.

"Whoah, Casey, you don't look good at all." Olivia took a step forward, and put a hand to her forehead. "You don't feel hot… Casey… were you throwing up?"

"I-"

"Don't lie."

Tears welled up in Casey's eyes. "I missed my period."

Olivia's eyes widened. "Oh, Casey, come here." Casey fell into Olivia's arms, and broke down. "It could just be a scare…"

"I don't know and I'm so scared…" Casey sobbed. "We haven't even talked about kids… What if he doesn't want it?"

"Casey you know more better than anyone else that Silas will love you and a child if you ever have one." She gave Casey a paper towel to clean up her face. "Take a pregnancy test tonight, and call me ok? Does Silas know about this?"

Casey wiped her eyes. "No."

"You should tell him."

"This might not even be legit… I could just have the flu."

"He has a right to know."

"Not until I know for sure." Casey picked up her briefcase. "I'll call you and let you know. And please Olivia," Her green eyes were pleading, "Please don't tell him."

Olivia gave her a soft smile. "I won't."

XXX

About One Week Later

Silas was getting worried. Sure he and Casey had busy schedules, as they were both trying to catch up on all the work they had to make up from their absence, but even when he made an effort to get home early, she would be late, and then be too tired to eat with him. For Christ's sake they'd been married for three months and hadn't gotten laid in five days!

Then he got the text; 'meet me in my office… we need to talk-Case'.

He had never been so nervous before to see her, even before they had started dating.

He got to her office, after work; the door was closed, and the blinds were shut. This could either end very well or very, very badly. He knocked, and opened the door.

She was working on some paperwork, and looked up when she saw him. "Hey." She smiled a bit, stood up, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. _Bad sign,_ Silas thought_, She doesn't want to get intimate…_ She then shut the door.

"Hey. What'd you need to talk to me about?"

She leaned against her desk, and crossed her arms. "Do you remember when we had lunch here, about three weeks ago." Crap she was going into prosecutor mode.

"Uh… we had lunch in here numerous times."

"On this occasion we had sex on my desk."

"We did that a lot too."

"You took my panties afterwards, and stuck them in your breast pocket. I was wearing a skirt that day, too."

"Listen if you're mad about the panties, I swear I put them back in the hamper-"

"It's not about the panties, Silas." She exhaled. "We didn't use a condom that day, and I didn't take a contraceptive afterwards. I didn't think it was that time of month." The silence in the office was deafening. "I'm pregnant."

Silas didn't say anything; he just crossed the room in three steps, and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Casey," he murmured into her hair, rocking her back and forth, "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I didn't know what you'd think. I was scared that you'd be angry." She was crying now.

"I'm not," she felt Silas' body rumble with his laughter. "I'm happy, nervous, excited; not angry." He kissed her. "We'll make great parents."

Casey gave out a soft hiccup. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Understanding."

He chuckled again. "I'm your husband, it's my job."

XXX

About Two Months Later

"Come in." Casey heard a muffled voice say. She ran a hand over the small bump in her stomach. She had to tell her supervisor, Donnelly about the baby, and tell her that she would eventually need to be off on maternity leave. All of SVU knew, but no one at her own office knew yet. After she had sent Silas out for pizza with onions, bacon, and sausage on it, she asked him who she should break the news to first; Branch or Donnelly? They decided to flip a coin.

Now here she was. She pushed the door open, and found Donnelly sitting at her desk going over paperwork. "Hello, Casey. Do you have SVU's DD5s on the Jameson case?"

"Yes." She handed over the files; Liz flipped through them. "Thank you. How'd your motion hearing go to get that crackpot defense for the Ditone case thrown out?"

"It went ok. Liz I-"

"Ok? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It didn't get thrown out, but we do get to keep the confession."

"Good job, that's all we really need."

"Thank you, but-" Casey began to rub her stomach.

"Very well done on the Corolie case as well; I was starting to get nerv-" Donnelly looked her over, and then her eyes rested on her stomach. "Casey, are you pregnant?"

_Finally…_ "That's what I came to speak to you about." Casey kept her voice level. "I'm due in February; I came to warn you."

Donnelly's eyes were the size of basketballs. "You two didn't waste any time."

"No we didn't."

Donnelly leaned back. "This works out well for both of us. You get a few months off and I get to unload some only baby crap I have. Are you going to need a car seat?"

XXX

"And she said that?"

"Yeah."

"Wow, a free car seat." Silas poked at his chicken with broccoli and duck-sauce. "You should try some of this."

"Is that your way of asking if you can have some of my… whatever this is?"

"Yes. Maybe I can identify it."

"It just smelt so good in the Chinese place." She said as they traded boxes.

Silas sniffed it. "I can only smell… pork, maybe."

"No I definitely smelled beef in there."

He took a second sniff. "Well I'll be damned!"

"I also smell…" Casey inhaled. "Soy sauce. And you need to throw out that Mexican food from a week ago."

He looked at her mid-bite, and smelled the air again. "I don't smell Mexican."

"Are you kidding, it reeks in here!"

Silas gave her a look that said 'you're crazy'. "Is this a pregnancy thing?"

"I think so."

"Maybe you should sniff all the food in the cupboard at the 1-6 and let me know what's edible and what's not."

They both laughed; Casey stopped and gave a little 'oh'. "Come here, quick!"

He stood up; she grabbed his hand and pressed it to the side of her stomach. Silas smiled like an idiot when he felt a small kick. "What do you think it is?"

"A boy." Casey didn't even have to think about it. "I know it."

"I want a girl."

Casey looked at him, arching an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Yeah." He smiled. "I want her to be as beautiful as her mother when I walk her down the aisle one day."

"Yeah, a girl would be nice, but I grew up with three older brothers so I guess I know how to deal with boys better, seeing as I was a big tomboy."

"Whatever it is, we'll love it." He smiled, and pressed a kiss to Casey's lips. Soon they were kissing more passionately than before, and as Silas carried her to the bedroom, Casey nibbled on his earlobe and crooned, "Another perk of being pregnant; increased sex drive."

"I could get used to that."

XXX

Yay! They're going to be one big happy Shnovak family! Or are they…? Dun dun DUN!


	24. Will You Follow Me Down, Now?

Glad you all are already in love with the baby :) No baby this chapter, but like 7Seven7 said there's going to be some drama this chapter… buhahaha…

**Will You Follow Me Down, Now? (XXIV)**

About Four Months Later

It had started off like any other normal day.

Silas was at SVU early that morning so he could get the coffee when it was still fresh. He and Munch were having a nice discussion about conspiracy theories in the Kennedy assassination, when he was tapped on the shoulder.

As soon as he turned around, his smile faded into confusion. Aaron Hotchner was standing behind him. "Hotch? What's going on?"

Hotch's face conveyed little to no emotion when he spoke. "Come with me."

Silas looked at Munch and then followed Hotch out of the precinct. "What's going on?" Silas repeated.

"There was a fire this morning at 1:47 am, in Attica's maximum security block, in Joseph Dunning's cell."

Silas froze. "What happened?"

"Fire personal responded and they found a body, burned beyond recognition."

"Was… Was it Dunning?"

Hotch stopped and looked at Silas. "Dunning had made a makeshift knife, and slit the C.O.'s throat when he went to check it out. He stole his uniform and slipped out, making the officer look like he himself had died in the fire. It almost worked, until the M.E. noticed that his throat had been slit. Dental records matched the body to the C.O."

"So he's out there somewhere?" Silas could feel himself shaking. "And no one told me when it first happened?"

"We just got here, Silas." Hotch said. "We're coming to SVU to set up a base of operations; Cragen cleared it. You know this man better than anyone; we want you to run point."

Silas looked at Hotch. "Are you sure?"

Hotch nodded. "I think you're ready."

Silas glanced back at the squad room. "Let's do this then."

XXX

"I don't care about the goddamn procedure!" Morgan was shouting into a phone in the SVU precinct. "I need to get that gun out of evidence! A detective will be by to get it shortly." Morgan slammed the phone down, and dramatically sighed towards Olivia. "Would you mind-?"

"Absolutely not." Liv grabbed her jacket and headed out.

"Morgan!" Silas called from the profile board. "You get the gun?"

"Olivia's going to pick it up now."

"Good." He turned back to the board and checked off 'GUN'. "He's going to be disappointed when he find out we've taken his gun out of evidence."

"How would he be able to get it anyway?" Elliot asked.

"Dunning's a master of disguise." Silas tapped a photograph of dozens of official looking costumes that had been taken from his home when the original raid had gone down three years ago. "He used a cop ruse to get near his victims and then shoot them; no doubt he'll try to use it to get the gun out of evidence. He'll be surprised to see we got it first."

"Why doesn't he just take off?" Emily asked. "What makes you think he's even still here in New York City? Even in the tri-state area?"

"When I interviewed him after he was caught, he told me that he loved what he did; that gun and all the bullets he made took him ten years to modify. He loved that gun, and he'll do anything to get it back. Then he'll leave and kill someplace else."

"So he'll definitely be in New York." Morgan said

"The NYPD had doubled its patrols, and every cop in the city knows what Dunning looks like." Cragen walked in. "It is now the NYPD's priority to catch him."

Reid pointed to the pictures of Dunning's past victims, all young couples in the early twenties. "You don't think he'll go right back to killing again?"

"No, because he doesn't have the gun. He will kill to get the gun, no doubt, but he won't kill the victims he likes." Huang interjected. "The only way he can get release is through shooting people and them leaving them to die in… that manner."

Silas turned around and looked at Garcia, who was working on her computers. "Have you found anything that might tell us where he is?"

"He doesn't have any property, or family." Garcia shrugged. "I have no idea what else to look at."

"Keep digging." Silas instructed as Munch and Fin came back in. "How's the manhunt going?"

"Nothing, except a bus driver remembers driving him into the city." Fin said.

"Good, at least we have a perimeter now."

"Which is?"

"All of Manhattan."

Munch rolled his eyes. "Great. We'll go start knocking on doors."

Silas hadn't heard the sarcastic remark; his phone was buzzing. Caller ID said 'Casey'. He wondered what she was calling about; She had an ultrasound appointment later, so the ever merciful Branch had given her the day off. She probably needed some exotic flavor of ice cream.

"Hey, Case, listen it's a bad time, can I call you back later?" Silas asked.

"No, Silas, I need you to take me to the doctor." The concern in her voice was unsettling.

"Why?"

"Something's wrong…"

"Casey, there's something going on here, can't you call a taxi?"

"I'll-" she let out an awful, painful sound.

"Case? You there?"

"Yeah, yeah." Silas could tell she was lying, and let out a sigh.

"You know what, I'll be there soon."

"Alright; please hurry."

He hung up and turned to Hotch. "I need to go bring Casey to the doctor, it won't take more than a few hours."

"Go; you've been working this case for over twelve hours." Hotch watched Silas slid on his coat. "Be careful. And warn Casey; he has a personal vendetta against you."

"I know." And with that, he left.

XXX

"You got it?" Silas was talking to Olivia over the phone, as he jogged up the stairs. "Secure it, and get back to the precinct. I'll be back soon."

He shut the phone, and opened the door. "Casey?" It was dark, except for a light in the kitchen. Silas stepped into the light, and drew his gun immediately.

"Hello, Silas." Joseph Dunning smiled. "Nice to see you again." In one hand he had a handful of Casey's hair, restraining her and using her as a shield all at the same time, and in the other, a large hunting knife that was pressing into her stomach. "Your wife let me in… Too bad she's not my type." He leaned in and smelled her hair, looking Silas in the eye the whole time. Casey looked terrified; she was shaking, and tears were sliding down her cheeks.

"Let her go." Silas commanded, his voice low and threatening.

"No, I don't think so." He smiled. Silas went to take a step forward, but Dunning pushed the knife harder against Casey and Silas stopped as soon as she let out a soft whimper. "Make one wrong move, Agent, and I'll be preforming a radical C-section right here in your kitchen."

Silas didn't move; the gears in his head were spinning so fast, figuring it all out. "You didn't stay in New York for the gun… You stayed for me."

"To bad you didn't figure that out before." Dunning made a 'tsk, tsk' noise.

"Then let her go; it's me you want."

"Yes," Dunning agreed. "Towing around two hostages is quite cumbersome, especially if one is pregnant. Put your gun down on the table. I won't hurt her."

At first he didn't, because he was trying to figure a way out of this but it was at that moment that Silas realized that he had no options left at all, and set the gun down.

"Now, please cuff you wife to that chair." He lowered the knife and pushed Casey toward Silas, who caught her.

"It's ok, Case, I'm here…" He hugged her.

"Touching, but I'd really like to get moving." Dunning had picked up the gun, and was now pointing it at them.

Silas reached in his coat and pulled out his handcuffs, and quickly cuffed Casey to the chair. He gave her a fleeting kiss, and the words he said were so quiet, Casey almost didn't hear them. "The keys are in your pocket. Wait five minutes. I love you."

He was then roughly pulled away and dragged out the door. As soon as she heard the door close she began to search for the keys. Like hell she was going to wait five minutes. But by the time she had escaped, they were gone, vanished without a trace.

XXX

Le gasp! What's going to happen to our favorite Special Agent hunk from New Orleans? Will SVU and the BAU be able to save him? REVIEW, or you won't find out!


	25. Nice To Meet You

**Nice To Meet You (XXV)**

"He, WHAT?" Morgan bellowed when JJ told him.

The blonde only nodded. "Emily and Olivia are with Casey at the hospitable. He used a Chinese food delivery guy outfit as a ruse to get in. When he tried to attack her, she called their guard dog, and he did get a piece of Dunning, but…" her voice trailed off. "Most of the blood found in their apartment was their dog's, but CSU did find a few drops of Dunning's blood. He then made her call Silas, and get him to come home…"

"Where the bastard kidnapped him." Morgan kicked a chair.

"Getting angry isn't going to help Shag." Hotch said, keeping his voice level. "Detective Stabler, he has to have a car. Did CSU find anything other than the blood?"

Elliot was just as steamed as Morgan was. "Yeah, he was driving a blue four door sedan, reported stolen a few hours ago. We found it torched in a lot a few blocks away. But there was nothing in the apartment."

"He wouldn't stay close by." Reid said. "Maybe he took a cab?"

"To obvious. Maybe the subway?" JJ proposed.

"Aren't there too many people?" Fin asked.

Hotch spoke now. "If he keeps Shag's gun concealed, tells Shag that if he tried to escape he'll shoot either him or innocent bystanders."

"We have fliers everywhere; why hasn't someone recognized him yet?" Munch asked.

"Disguise is his specialty. We won't be able to spot him that easily." Morgan responded.

"Uh… guys…" Garcia called. "I've got something. An email was sent to me, from an untraceable address."

"Well, what's it say?"

"'Web Chat with me at 8:30, or Shag dies'."

"So he's not dead?" Everyone turned to where the voice had come from; a pale and shaky Casey was standing in the precinct door way with Benson and Prentiss.

"Casey, you shouldn't be here right now." Cragen, took a step forward.

"No, I want to help." She shook her head. "I called the DA; anything you need to catch this son-of-a-bitch is yours. I also want to be there when we're online with him."

"That's not a good idea at all." Hotch stepped forward. "He gets off on other people's pain; seeing you there is only letting him win."

"We can hook up a separate screen, where she can just watch." Garcia spoke up.

"I'll stay with her." JJ offered.

Cragen looked her over; she was pale, shaking, eyes red from crying, and her hands were resting across her stomach, protecting her baby. He didn't want to have to say no to her, but what if he killed Silas on screen and while she was watching. "I don't-"

"I can take it, Captain." Her voice sounded like the strong prosecutor they all knew and loved, not the voice that should have been coming out of broken woman before him.

"Fine." Cragen looked at Garcia. "Set it up."

XXX

All of the SVU detectives and BAU agents (with the exception of JJ) were all in the main room in front of a large TV, waiting to face chat with a serial killer.

In the interview room next to Cragen's office, JJ and Casey sat with a monitor, just like the large one outside.

As the clock ticked, everyone grew more tense.

Finally a video chat invitation popped up on screen. Garcia clicked on it, and Joseph Dunning's face popped up on screen.

"Ah," he said, smiling calmly. "Captain Cragen and SSA Hotchner, nice to meet you both. Look, you have the rest of the team here as well! It's like a party!" He laughed.

"Where is Silas?" Cragen asked, trying to keep his voice level.

Dunning frowned. "All work and no play Captain? He's still with us… for how much longer is up to you."

In the interview room, Casey's stomach flipped over.

"Can we see him?" Hotch asked.

Dunning reached over and turned the camera towards another section of the dark room. Silas was lying on the floor, feet tied, and his hands bound behind his back; he looked like he had gotten the shit beat out of him.

"Looks like a basement…" Emily muttered next to Stabler.

Elliot let out a snort. "Looks like every basement in Manhattan."

"See, he's just fine." Dunning said.

"He's not fine you son-of-a-bitch!" Casey snarled in the next room.

"But I guess we must get down to business, hm?"

"I guess we should." Hotch said. "What do you want?"

"Do you really need to ask that question, Agent? You know what I want." Dunning smiled again. "I want it placed in the sewer grate outside of the precinct. You have one hour. Or…"

He stood up, and calmly walked over to Silas. Everyone knew what was going to happen next; Garcia looked away.

Dunning kicked him in the stomach; Silas tried to double over, to protect himself. Dunning just grabbed him by a handful of his black hair, pulled Silas to his knees, and pulled back his fist. He hit Silas over, and over, and over again.

"Casey, you should-" JJ began, but her voice cracked; It was hard for her to watch too.

"No." Casey whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I need to be here with him, even if he doesn't know it."

It seemed to go on for hours. Finally, Dunning threw him back down, and walked back over to the camera. There was a little bit of Silas' blood splattered on his face. "You have one hour." The camera was turned off.

Silence. "That monster…" Garcia wiped some of her tears away.

"Why the sewer grate?" Munch asked. "In front of the precinct, no less!"

"I don't know…" Reid's brows were furrowed, the wheels in his head spinning. "It's strange…"

"Do it." Cragen said. "You all saw what he did; he's not the man to jerk around. But I want snipers and plainclothes crawling all over that grate!"

Olivia had slipped in the interview room, to check on JJ and Casey. Casey was a wreck, shaking and crying softly; JJ was trying to console her, tears leaking out of her own eyes.

"…It's going to be ok. He'll come back ok." JJ hugged Casey.

"I want to believe that." Casey cried. "But he's going to kill Silas, once he gets that gun."

"You don't know that." Olivia spoke.

"What if he does die?" Casey asked. "And what if the baby doesn't have a father?" She was shaking violently now.

"Casey, you need to be positive." JJ said. "We'll catch him, and Silas will come back safely."

"Then please, both of you," Casey wiped her eyes. "Find him."

XXX

Every second that passed seemed to stretch on for hours. The air in the squad room was so tense and so quiet. People would glance out the window to the grate to see if anyone suspicious was hanging around it.

Finally Elliot broke the silence.

"It's been over an hour." Stabler growled. "No one's even come close to the grate."

"Send in a plainclothes officer to check it out." Rossi told Cragen. "I'm starting to worry a bit; and I don't worry."

About ten minutes later the officer came back, and said only two words; "It's gone."

XXX

I hope I'm freaking you all out a bit, buhahaha…

VampirePrincess: No, I just fast forward about four months so she's now about 7 to 8 months along right now.

7Seven, Ranowa, and SilvrBlade: Hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

Now, REVIEW! Or I make you wait!


	26. Can You Be Strong?

**Can You Be Strong? (XXVI)**

Dunning had left about an hour ago. Or maybe two. Even though his head was killing him, Silas was fighting to get out of his restraints; Dunning knew that Silas could pick any lock, so he used flex cuffs. It was at that moment that Silas cursed his oversized hands; even though he was using his own blood as lubricant, he still couldn't slide out of the cuffs.

He heard the door at the top of the stairs open and he went limp. He heard Dunning thunder down the stairs. "I got it!" He walked over to Shag, and held up the gun.

"You sure it's real?" Shag snarked back at him.

"Trust me," Dunning leaned down, and tapped Shag's cheek with the gun. Jesus, he smelled awful…_ He must've been_… "They wouldn't risk your pretty face when you're going to be a proud papa soon."

Shag just glared at him. "How did you find Casey?"

"Tracking you wasn't that hard, even from prison." He smiled. "I have fans in high places."

_Sonofabitch…_ "I will kill you!" Shag tried to lunge at him, but Dunning pistol whipped him, back down.

Coolly, he stood back up, and walked over to the computer. He sent out another message to those dumb cops and feds. It didn't matter if they found him or not; he wasn't planning on escaping, hell he wasn't planning on leaving Manhattan!

Cragen and Hotchner's faces appeared on the screen. "Thank you very much for my gun." Dunning said with a cool smile.

"Are you going to let Silas go now?" Hotchner asked.

"No, of course not!" Dunning laughed. "But you did buy him twelve hours! Hurry, Agent, the clocks ticking…"

Back in the squad room, the agents and the detectives were silent. Cragen turned around and looked over the crowd. "Well what the hell are you waiting for? Find him!"

XXX

"So he has no property, Garcia?" Stabler asked.

"No, none, sir."

"And all of his family is either dead or on the other side of the country." Prentiss said. "He has no ties."

"The basement he was in didn't look too old." Benson pointed to a picture of the basement.

"There has got to be a clue somewhere…" Morgan said. "Something he said, something he did."

Rossi seemed to be in deep thought. "He had us put the gun in the sewer…" suddenly the light bulb in Rossi's head flipped on. "The sewer!" Rossi exclaimed. "He had to have traveled through the sewer!"

"I want someone to go to Attica, and get what's left of his possessions; he probably has New York City sewer schematics somewhere, he probably memorized them, so he could navigate the sewers with ease." Hotch pointed to Reid. "Reid, look up the schematics yourself, look at all the tunnels that connect to the grate outside of the precinct."

Stabler and Morgan grabbed their jackets, and jogged out the door, to Attica.

XXX

"Everything was destroyed in the fire." Stabler reported, as he and Morgan jogged back in.

"Reid you better have found something." Morgan walked over to the desk Reid was working at.

"I have three tunnels that connect directly to that grate." Reid traced three lines on a confusing looking map.

"That one goes under Central Park." Benson pointed out. "So, that one's out, I assume."

"Alright so we have two." Cragen said. "Both of which cover thousands of apartments."

"We need to narrow it down more." Hotch said. "He's only got about eight hours left."

"If that slime bag keeps his word." Fin growled.

"Garcia, are you sure he doesn't have any family or friends in Manhattan?"

"No, sir, I don't think so."

The whole time they had been talking, Casey had been sitting by Reid, looking at the map. "Our apartment is on that tunnel."

Everyone looked at Casey. "What?"

"Yeah, right there." She pointed to a spot on the tunnel.

Reid examined it. "What if… he torched the car before he held you hostage?" he looked at Casey.

"Do you remember anything about him? Any smells, anything he said?" Prentiss asked.

Casey paused playing over the scene in her head.

_She had opened the door, expecting the food delivery guy, but he pulled a knife. Achilles had attacked Dunning, but Dunning stabbed her only protection, until the dog was nothing more than a pile of blood and fur._

_He made her call Silas, make him come home. He was so close it was uncomfortable…_

"Gasoline." Casey said suddenly. "He smelled like gasoline. And… something else…"

"Think Casey…" Olivia urged.

She tried to think… When he leaned in to smell her hair… "Metal… Like metal shavings… and wood…"

"Metal shavings and wood?" Stabler looked over the map. "Like a hardware store?"

"Possibly." Hotch looked at Garcia. "Look up all hardware stores, on that tunnel."

"Alright…" A few seconds passed. "There are twenty-seven."

"That's still too many to conduct raids on all of them!" Cragen said, pacing about.

"Cross check every name that came up during Dunning's investigation with owners of those stores." Hotch commanded.

Garcia furiously typed. "There's one! Theo Pool… he was a character witness during Dunning's trial, because he was Dunning's boss while he worked at Pool's Hardware for about one month."

"How the hell did we miss that?" Morgan snapped.

"Alright, we need to get SWAT out there; suit up guys." Hotch began to make his way out the door.

"I'm going too." Casey demanded, standing up.

Cragen shook his head. "No, we can't risk it."

"What if something happens?" Casey asked. "I need to be there with him."

There was not time to argue, and the head-strong attorney wasn't going to budge. "Fine; Liv, suit her up too, and don't leave her side."

XXX

I know it was a bit shorter, but I hope you enjoyed. NOW REVIEW OR I TAKE THIS STORY HOSTAGE!


	27. Don't You Come Here

**Don't You Come Here, Don't Bring Anyone Here (XXVII)**

To accommodate Casey's swollen stomach they had given her a XLL vest that just barely closed around her. She and Olivia stood behind one of the Crown Vics, surveying the hardware store, as feds, police officer, detectives, and SWAT swarmed about. The store was closed, and dark.

Next to them, the Captain was talking to everyone through the radio.

"All teams in position?"

Elliot's voice came over first. "Team four is good."

Hotch's next. "Team one is set."

"Team three is set." Morgan's deep voice came over the radio next.

Finally Fin's. "Team two is all go."

"Alright. Whenever you're ready."

Hotch's team was set at the front door; he said something into his radio, and then nodded to the SWAT guy with the battering ram. The door was brought down, and they swarmed in. Olivia knew that at three other strategic points of entrance, three other teams did the same.

Casey twisted her wedding set around her finger, and said silent prayers to keep her friends and her husband safe. Next to her, Olivia draped a comforting arm around Casey's shoulders, and gave her a squeeze. "He'll be ok. He's gotten through this once before."

"Can someone really be that lucky twice though?" Casey whispered back.

"For Silas' sake, I hope so."

XXX

When the door was brought down, the SWAT team flooded in first, yelling out "Police! Search warrant!" followed closely by Hotch and Reid.

Hotch scanned the room actual store section. SWAT flooded in, checking behind shelves. "Clear!" someone called.

"I got something over here!" Hotch quickly made his way over to a shelf, where Reid was standing by a pair off feet. _Oh God, please, no… _Hotch thought as he jogged over to the body.

Hotch breathed a sigh of relief. "It's not him." he said, looking over the man who had been stabbed multiple times.

Reid nodded towards the body. "Theo Pool, I would assume."

"Hotch." Morgan's voice came over Hotch's earpiece. "Stabler, Fin, and I have met up. We've found the basement entrance."

"We'll be there soon." Hotch motioned to his team, and they moved further into the store. They found the rest of the teams there. Hotch looked at the other team leaders. "Hit it."

Morgan got the nod from the two older detectives, and kicked the door open; the agents and detectives flooded the basement, to find Dunning standing over Shag, his foot over his neck, gun aimed at his chest.

Dunning smiled warmly at them. "I was beginning to think you weren't going to come!" The sound of the .45 being cocked echoed throughout the basement.

"Don't do it." Hotch said calmly, gun pointed right in the middle of Dunning's forehead. "You shoot him, we kill you."

"You know, I wish New York still had the death penalty." Dunning said, calm as ever. "I never liked the idea of spending the rest of my life in a cell. I'd rather die." He accented each word if the last sentence.

He wasn't even going to try to negotiate here; he didn't even plan on leaving the basement alive.

"I believe everything is predetermined." Dunning continued. "And that if you stray from your destined path, bad things happen. Agent Shag was supposed to bleed out in a basement, not unlike this one. Now I'm going to make things right."

"It doesn't have to end like this!" Rossi yelled.

"Oh, but it must."

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Stabler snarled.

"We are all sons of bitches." Dunning's finger tightened on the trigger.

_Bang. Bang. Bang, bang._ Every law enforcement officer in the room fired at Dunning. Silas made an awful choking noise. Dunning fell. It had all happened so fast that if you had blinked, you might have missed it.

Hotch, Rossi, Stabler, Prentiss, JJ, Reid and Fin all rushed forward. Dunning was dead. "Clear!" Stabler called. "We need a bus!"

Hotch was next to Silas. Dunning had hit him in the stomach, and he was violently coughing up blood and seizing. "Help me hold him still!" Prentiss and Rossi helped to hold him down. A few EMTs came down with a stretcher, and quickly loaded Silas up.

After they had taken Silas out, Elliot looked down at Dunning's body. He was disgusted to see that cool smile was still on his bloody face.

XXX

Le gasp!

I know it was a short chapter, and I'm so very sorry, but I hope you all enjoyed anyway. Now review! Or else!


	28. But I'm Still Holding On

**But I'm Still Holding On (XXVIII)**

"I have good news and bad news." The doctor said to the sea of feds, detectives, and Casey.

"Bad news first." Casey sighed. She was exhausted; twelve hour surgery… A doctor had come out a few hours before, and told them that he was probably going to live, which relieved them all, but there still had to be more work done on him.

The doctor checked his notes. "He's alive, but he's in a coma, and we don't know when he'll wake up."

"Ok." Casey wiped her eyes. "Good news now."

"He still has lots of brain function, so he's not in a vegetative state. He's very lucky too; he was shot in the stomach, so none of his vital organs were damaged. When he wakes up, he'll have a hard time eating for a few weeks, but he should be ok. We got all 127 pieces of the bullet out." The doctor handed Casey a case with the bullet fragments arranged in it. "Mr. Shag's a fighter, I'll give him that. This is the second time I've done this operation on him, and I have faith he'll be back to normal in a few months."

Casey nodded. "Thank you. Can I see him?"

"Of course." She glanced back to her friends; all of them either gave her a soft nod, or a small smile. She went with the doctor; they walked down the hall to where Silas' room was. "I'll leave you for a bit. If anyone else wants to come in…?"

"Let them in. It's ok. Just wait a second or two."

"Of course, Mrs. Novak."

Casey slid into his room, and looked her husband over. He was laying completely still, his eyes closed, face bruised and stich-filled, IVs in his arm; he looked so peaceful, chest rising and falling slowly.

She sat on the bed, and took his limp hand. "Hey."

No response.

"How are you doing?"

Still no answer.

"I'm ok, really, I'm fine." Tears were leaking out of her eyes. "I'm just talking to my vegetable of a husband, hoping he'll answer back."

She could almost hear his response. _'Get ahold of yourself, Casey; I'm not dead yet.'_

"Close enough."

'_Casey, please, stop being a drama queen. Please go home and get some rest; you look terrible.' _

"I won't leave you."

'_I'm fine, I promise.'_

"But you're not."

'_Listen, please go home and get something to eat; you look almost as bad as I do.'_

Casey let out a weak laugh. He didn't.

She felt someone behind her. "I was sitting right where you are the first time this happened." Casey turned around. Cal Lightman was standing there, the usual smirk wiped clean off his face. "At least this time he gets to wake up to a pretty face." The comment made Casey smile a bit. "When he woke up the first time, I remember he used to call me at three in the morning, saying how he had these terrible nightmares and that he couldn't sleep."

"He still has them." Casey said quietly.

"And it's only going to get worse." Cal frowned a bit. "He's going to wake up, and he'll never be the same; you need to stick by him."

Casey nodded; she had never seen Cal this serious. "Thank you."

He put a hand on Casey's shoulder, and gave it a squeeze. "Tell him I was here. And congrats."

He turned and walked out. Casey was never good at judging people based on first impressions; Cal Lightman had just proved that.

XXX

About One Week Later

It was 3:07 pm when Silas woke up.

Casey had basically moved her office into the hospitable room, to try to stay on top of her work before she had to be off on maternity leave. She was reviewing witness statements in a case she was set to try in about a week or so, when she thought she heard something that sounded like a sigh.

Casey looked up, scanned the room, then looked at the motionless Silas; he wasn't moving, and his breathing was still even, so she exhaled of disappointment, and continued her work.

Then there was a groan. Casey's head snapped up and she gasped; Silas' eyebrow's twitched, and she noticed his breathing was getting deeper.

She put her paperwork aside and pulled her chair closer to the bed. "Silas?" She asked carefully.

She saw a finger twitch, and he exhaled deeply, letting out a low moan. His eyes fluttered open, at last.

She smiled at the sight of the sapphire orbs she had missed so much. His eyes focused, and she could tell he was trying to figure out where he was.

"Silas?" she asked again. His head rolled over to look at where she was seated.

"C-Casey…?" his voice was just barely above a whisper.

"Yeah it me, I'm right here." She gently took his hand; her smile widened when she felt his long thin fingers weakly squeeze back.

"Are yo-you ok? He had you and he was st-st-stabbing and…" his eyes opened a little wider and he was shaking a little bit.

"No, I'm ok, it was just a dream."

Suddenly, his eyes shot open. "Where is he?" Silas tried to sit up, but cried out in pain.

"Don't move." Casey commanded. "Dunning's dead."

"Wha-what?" Silas asked. "How?"

"We found you and…" Casey gave out a half-sob. "I'm just glad you're alive."

"Is the baby…?"

She picked up his hand and pressed it to her stomach. "Baby's fine."

He smiled at her as best as he could. "Glad I didn't miss it."

"I would have revived you just to kill you if you had."

They smiled at each other. "God, I can't tell you how much I've missed you." Casey reached out to touch his face, but stopped.

"It's ok." She was only trying to give him the courtesy that he had given to her after she was attacked and Silas liked that. She touched his face, then leaned down and kissed him.

"I can't wait for us to be a family." Silas whispered. "I just hope I can get over this."

"This isn't something you just get over." Casey told him. "I'm going to help you. All of us are."

"All of who?"

"Lightman and Foster came by and told me to have you call them as soon as you're able to. Hotch and the rest of the team told me that you need anything to just call. SVU told me the same thing."

"Wow." He smiled. "I've got the best family ever. And the most fantastic wife. I love you."

"I love you too. Now get some rest."

"I've been resting for God only knows how long. You go home and get some sleep; you look just a bad as I probably do."

XXX

Yay! Silas is alive! Had you all freakin' out last chapter, didn't I? I'm so bad… I'm not very into medical stuff, so none of the medical stuff in here is probably accurate, like how someone probably wouldn't probably have survived something like that, let alone be awake in a week and be able to recover in a few months, but I'm more focused on the psychological aspect of all of this, so don't hate me for it. NOW REVIEW, OR ELSE!


	29. But There's a Light in Your Eyes

**But There's a Light in Your Eyes (XXIX)**

A Few Weeks Later

Casey would go into labor during a trial.

It was her last day of work; she just had to make it through this closing statement, and they wait it out for a few more days before she popped.

Silas on the other hand was just beginning to ease back into work. He had been cleared a week ago, and while the bruises and stitches remained, every night he and Casey would stay up a bit to talk about what had happened, but even so, he barely slept, and when he did, he would have nightmares, and wake up in cold sweats.

All of his bosses told him to take it easy for a bit, so here he was in the court room, watching Casey, who was nine months pregnant, giving a fantastic closing argument. He also had to admit that she pulled off the maternity power suit very well.

"…This monster should never be allowed to walk the streets of New York again. Make the right decision. Find him guilty." She said in that tone of voice; pleading but firm. The tone of voice she used when she was persuading a jury or when she wanted Silas to do something.

She turned and walked to the prosecution desk and was just about to sit down, when Silas noticed that her face twitched in discomfort. A split second later, she grabbed the edge of the desk. "Oh God…" Her step faltered.

Silas stood up, and jogged over to her flashing his badge.

"Yes, Agent Shag we all know who you are," Petrovsky said. "Please sit back down."

"Your Honor," Casey could hear him pouring on the southern charm. "My wife is pregnant, and I'd like to be sure she's ok." He knelt down by Casey. "What's wrong?"

"Well, let's see, I'm nine months pregnant, so the pain I'm feeling from my waist down must be because I'm going into labor!" she hissed at him.

"Someone call an ambulance!" Silas called.

"I don't need an ambulance, _Agent Shag_." She snapped.

"Cancel that."

"Your Honor, this is ridiculous!" the defense counsel rose.

"Technically these proceedings are over." Petrovsky said. "The jury shall begin deliberations tomorrow, without Mrs. Novak present."

"We are sorry for the inconvenience, your Honor." Silas apologized.

"Yeah, real big inconvenience…" Casey muttered under her breath.

"This court is adjourned. Agent Shag, please get Mrs. Novak to a hospitable."

"Yes, ma'am." Silas turned back to Casey. "I'm going to carry you out of here, ok?"

"Jesus, Silas, don't try it, you'll hurt yourself." He didn't seem to hear her, and instead, he slipped his arms under her knees and arms. When he tried to pick her up, he let out a kiss of pain, and set her back down.

"Ok, bad idea."

"I told you, but no! Nobody listens to Casey!"

Silas leaned back and rubbed his stomach, feeling little bits of pain shoot up his spine.

"Mr. and Mrs. Shag?" Both of them looked up to see an EMT standing over them. "Are you in need of any assistance?"

"Yessir," Silas answered. "Just lead the way."

XXX

"You were right." Silas whispered, as he wrapped an arm around Casey.

"I always am." Casey smiled down at the little blue bundle in her arms. The Novak-Shag family of three were all squeezed into the bed in Casey's room at the hospitable.

All of their visitors had come and gone, before, including, but not limited to, Casey's family, the SVU detectives, the entire BAU unit, the whole Lightman Group, some of Casey's ADA friends, Arthur Branch, the head of the New York FBI field office, and even a few judges. They had asked Olivia and Morgan to be the new baby's god-parents and both of them had been more the happy to say yes. But right now it was just them.

The delivery had been difficult to say the least. The bones in Silas' hands still felt like dust, but looking down at their son, it was worth it.

"So mom," Silas asked, "Can I hold him?"

Casey handed over the bundle to Silas, who rocked the baby back and forth in his long arms. He grinned. "You look just like your mom…"

"Except his hair. He has his dad's hair." Casey leaned into Silas' body to look at her son again, admiring the little black tuff of hair on the baby's head. "We still need a name."

"We spent all of our free time arguing if it was a girl or a boy, we never picked a name."

"How about… Connor?"

"Oh no. Nothing with a C. Nothing that will remind me of your brothers." He paused. "Something different. We all have weird names in my family."

"Silas isn't too weird."

"That was my mom's doing. She wanted something a little more aristocratic, but if my dad had it his way, I would have been Aiolos, like my grandfather, but eventually he compromised by having his name be my middle name."

"I don't think I like Aiolos that much, but his middle name can be Atticus, you know," She smiled at him, "Like your dad."

Silas smiled, glad she was acknowledging his wishes "Something biblical?"

"Says the man who hates church."

"Hey, you're the church goer in this family, I'm trying to compromise."

"And I guess I should thank you for it, shouldn't I?"

"You should." Silas seemed to ponder for a few moments. "Issac." He said at last.

"Isaac?"

"With two S's, not two A's, so it's not _too_ biblical."

Casey mulled it over. "I actually really like it. Issac Atticus Novak-Shag."

"Issac Atticus Shnovak."

"Absolutely not."

"Casey and Silas Shnovak?" He smiled. "It's got a nice ring to it. Shnovak."

"No."

"You're no fun."

"Lawyers never are." She yawned.

"Tired?"

"You don't even know it."

"Go to sleep then."

Casey didn't need to be told twice. She used his shoulder as a pillow, and was out in less than five seconds.

"Well, bud." Silas looked at his sleeping son. "Welcome to the world…"

XXX

Yay! It's a boy! Yes, I know it's not physically possible for someone to recover that quickly, but it's a story, so I don't really care! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter :) Review! NOW!


	30. You Electrify My Life

**You Electrify My Life (XXX)**

Three Years Later

"Three… Two… One…" Silas whispered quietly in Casey's ear.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Came their three year old son's cry, 6:30 punctual as always, as he launched himself into the bed to tackle his father; Silas immediately began to wrestle with his son. Casey rolled over and propped herself up on her elbow.

"Alright boys break it up." Casey smiled sleepily.

"Oh, alright…" Silas sighed. "Come one, bud." He picked up Issac, tossed him over his shoulder, and carried him into the kitchen.

Issac waved to Casey from his perch, with a smile. "Hi, Mommy." He had his father's laid-back southern smile.

"Hi, sweetie." Casey couldn't help but smile back. It was scary how much he looked like Silas, with his black hair that stuck up in every-which direction. He had Casey's green eyes though.

It was funny how one minute Silas would be whispering in her ear all the dirty things he was going to do to her later on during their lunch date in his office, the next he'd be grappling with his son, like the best father in the world. But somehow, it didn't surprise Casey; Silas loved being a father, and she loved being a mother. It was a challenge to balance their jobs and Issac, but they somehow made it work. Casey wouldn't trade it for anything, and she knew Silas wouldn't either.

A crash from the kitchen pulled her out of her thoughts. She got out of bed, and slid into her robe to investigate the mysterious noise.

When she entered the kitchen, she found both of her boys sitting at the table eating their Wheaties, acting like nothing had happened. "It's like I have two three year olds." Casey sighed.

Silas stood up, and handed her a cup of coffee. "Probably." He leaned down and kissed her. "Hey."

"Hey." she smiled at him. "So, after that…" she nodded towards the bedroom. "I'm looking forward to our lunch date."

Silas smiled wickedly. "Good."

After Issac had been born, Silas had done much better coping with everything. While it had been hard to go back to the job at first, he had finally got back to as normal as he possibly could; Casey was even proud of him when he told her he was going to go on a case with his old team at the BAU. Hotch had called her to tell her that he seemed back to normal. He was still talking to Foster, and was opening up to Casey even more about cases that were crawling back into his mind and into his nightmares.

"Ok, so the game plan for today." Casey pointed to Issac. "You're coming to work with me and Daddy for a bit, then I'm going to my work and Daddy's going to drop you off at daycare."

"Yep." Issac said, shoveling the last spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

Casey and Silas guzzled their coffees at the same time. "Alright, little man, time to get changed." Silas picked up Issac again.

"Gonna go to work, gonna go to work…" Issac was singing.

"You won't be too excited to be saying that in fifteen years or so." Was the last thing Casey heard before they disappeared into Issac's bedroom.

XXX

"Hey, Shaggy!"

"Uncle El!" Issac ran up to Elliot and gave him a hug. Silas chuckled a bit. Casey rolled her eyes; she despised the nickname derived from his father's last name.

"You don't hate that name?" Casey asked.

"No it was my nickname in high school, actually." Silas smiled. "Won best nickname."

"Oh, ok, so that makes it perfectly acceptable."

"Hell yeah, it does."

"I'm just glad it never stuck."

Silas leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Yeah, it wouldn't be very romantic to hear you scream 'Shaggy' when I make you lose it. Silas rolls off your tongue much better."

Casey tried not to blush. "Oh, shut up."

"Daddy?" Silas looked down to see Issac tugging on his pant leg. "Candy machine?"

"Bud, it's only eight in the morning!" Silas picked up his son. "How about before daycare?"

"Oh yes, Miss Hannah would love that." Casey interjected sarcastically. "Issac to be bouncing off the walls before naptime."

"Eh, I don't like her very much, so we shall most definitely be making a candy run before daycare." Silas smiled at his steaming wife. "Hey you wanna help Dad with some paperwork?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright…" He walked over to an open desk.

Olivia walked in. Issac spotted his god-mother, and waved over to her. Olivia waved back. "My God, has he gotten bigger?" She asked Casey.

"I think so." Casey sighed. It seemed like every time she turned around he got bigger and bigger.

"Before you know it, he'll be asking to borrow the car." Elliot said from his desk.

"Ug, don't remind me." She glanced at her watch. "Oh geeze…" She walked over to Silas' makeshift desk. Issac was playing with a paper crane he had made, and Silas was working on his report for the FBI's files. "I've got to head over to the DA's office; I'll see you for our lunch date." She leaned down and kissed him.

"Alright, is Mexican good?"

"Yeah."

"Ok." Silas tapped Issac on the shoulder. "Say bye to Mom."

"Bye, Mom." He hugged her.

"Bye, sweetie, see you later, be good." Casey hugged him back, and kissed him on the forehead. "Don't forget to drop him off!" She called to Silas over her shoulder.

"You worry too much!" Silas called after her. As soon as her red locks vanished down the hall, Silas looked at Issac. "Alright, kiddo, you held up your end of the deal so let's got visit the candy machine."

"Yay!" Issac held onto Silas as he stood up and made his way to the candy machine.

"Ok!" He called out to the other detectives. "Be there for around five-ish, the DA's going to stall her for as long as possible."

"Aye, aye, cap'n!" Elliot called back.

"I can't believe she didn't say anything about it!" Olivia exclaimed.

"She's turning thirty-five today, and while I don't think that's too old, she's been freaking out because I'm going grey already, and she thought she saw some grey, and it was just a mess…" Silas rolled his eyes. "She told me if I even said 'happy birthday' to her she'd tear out my vocal chords."

XXX

A very angry Casey drove home from work later on that night. The DA had kept her later that night because some idiot had lost a report, the coffee machine in the lounge room was broken, and all three alleged child-molesters had gotten pretty low bails today at arraignment. The only few good things about today had been the fifteen minutes spent at SVU, lunch with Silas today, and the fact that no one had said happy birthday to her.

Sure she wasn't that old, but it was as Silas said, ever the psychologist, it was her not wanting to come to terms with her own mortality. She just called it not wanting to go grey early like her dad and her brothers were. Silas told her to suck it up, and pointed to his sideburns and stubble, most of which were silver.

Sure, it looked sexy on him, but on her… Casey shuddered at the thought. All she wanted to do was go home to Silas' cooking, a nice hot shower, watching _America's Got Talent_ with Issac, and then a nice spooning session with her husband.

Casey smiled at the thought of a perfect evening as she shoved the key in the lock, and shouldered into the apartment. It was dark. "Silas?" she called. "Issac?"

The lights were then all turned on at once, and dozens of voices yelled "Surprise!" Casey covered her face with her hands knowing she was turning red.

She felt someone with a muscular body hugging her, kissing her hands. She peeked out to see Silas smiling at her. "Why the hell are you smiling? I'm going to rip your balls off!" she growled as menacingly as possible.

"Good thing I've already donated to the sperm bank." He smiled and kissed her. "Happy birthday."

"Mommy!" They let each other go, and Casey picked up Issac. "Surprise!"

"I am quite surprised." Casey said looking around. All of SVU was in their living room, as well as some of her ADA friends. "Who planned this?"

"Me!" Issac said proudly. "And Daddy, and Uncle Elliot, and Auntie Liv."

"Well then I guess I can't be mad." Casey smiled and kissed Issac.

"Good." Much said. "Because I'm not leaving now that your husband's brought out all the good stuff." He held up a glass of some of Silas' best whiskey to prove his point.

"Only way to get Munch to come." Silas pointed to the kitchen. "Cake, anyone?"

Casey rolled her eyes. "You didn't have to get a-"

"Cake!" Issac wiggled out of Casey's arms and ran to the kitchen.

"We really didn't have a choice." Silas took her hand and led her into the kitchen.

XXX

"Can we just stay here forever?" Casey whispered. "Please?"

Silas smiled. All the guests had left, Issac had been put to bed, dishes done, and now they were curled up next to each other on the couch.

"I wish." They sat in silence for a bit. "I have one more gift for you."

"No more gifts, please." Casey begged, looking over at the small pile of gifts from her friends.

"Oh yes." He handed her an envelope. "Here. Open it."

Casey took it grudgingly, and opened it. Two plane tickets fell out. "To New Orleans, Louisiana." She read.

"The only vacation we've had in the last three years is with Issac to the zoo. We deserve a break." He pointed to the date. "Maybe even a little bit of fun."

"Marti Gras."

"I haven't had a New Orleans Marti Gras in years, and you have yet to experience one."

"What about Issac?"

"Olivia said she'd watch him."

"Oh no, I don't want to put that burden on her…"

"She loves Issac, and he'd be in day care for most of the day anyway." He started to kiss her, each kiss more urgent then the last; He only did this when he really wanted her to do something. "Please Case…"

Against her will, she tugged him closer, wrapping her legs around his waist. "Ok, fine, we can go."

Silas was now lazily popping the buttons on her blouse. "Knew you'd see it my way."

XXX

If, you think I'm ending it now, you are sorely mistaken. Next chapter, the Shnovaks are going to New Orleans! BE EXCITED! Now, review!


	31. Nothing Like the Real Thing

**Nothing Like the Real Thing (XXXI)**

"Ok, and uh… you be good, ok?"

"Mom, you told me already. I know." Four year old Issac Novak-Shag told his mother, with a Novak eye roll.

"Casey, he always is." Olivia said, laughing a bit.

"I know but it doesn't hurt to remind him." Casey hugged her son again. "I love you."

"Love you too, Mom."

Casey smiled and stepped back, wiping a tear from her eyes. This would be the first time both of them would be gone for over a week; sure she had gone to conferences and Silas had gone on BAU business or gone to lecture somewhere, but the other was always home with Issac.

"You're too worried Mom, I'll be fine!" Issac said; it scared Casey how much he sounded like Silas when he said that.

"Yeah," Silas interjected. "Listen to the man." He scooped up his son and gave him and hug. "Miss me, ok?"

"Of course, Dad."

"We'll call when we land." Casey promised.

Silas put Issac down after one last kiss and picked up their bags. "Don't afraid to tell us if he breaks something, m'kay Liv?"

Olivia laughed. "I'm sure he'll be fine. Have a good time."

After one last goodbye, the two of them went through the gate. "Alright." Silas turned and began to walk in the opposite direction of where their gate was. "We need to go through a special security gate; to register my gun."

Casey looked at him sharply. "You brought your gun?"

"I have some… unfinished business down there."

Casey stopped and looked him straight in the eye. "Silas this trip is about us, not FBI business."

"I know, it won't take more than a day, and I'll get it done at the end of the trip."

Casey just rolled her eyes and followed Silas through a door marked 'Clearance Only', flashing his badge at the guard posted. Inside was a lady at a desk. "Badge?" She deadpanned.

Silas gave her his badge. She looked it over. "Gun?" He lifted up his jacket to reveal his Glock, which Casey hadn't even noticed before. He handed it over, the woman inspected it, then wrote down the serial number on the side. She handed it back to Silas, saying, "Please keep your weapon concealed at all times, and your badge ready to explain to anyone if it is seen." She then handed him a piece of paper.

"Yes, ma'am." He returned it to its holster. "Have a good day."

"Have a nice trip."

He led her through another door which led directly back to the gates. At the gate, he gave the paper in with his ticket, and they boarded the plane.

The flight over was uneventful. As he had told the lady, his gun was concealed and he acted like it wasn't there.

Casey had slept most of the flight, he head on Silas' shoulder. Silas was awake, one hand on her knee, the other holding a book called _Psychological Disorders A to Z_ Before Casey had fallen asleep he was on F.

"Casey, wake up." He was gently shaking her awake. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and glanced at his book; He was on S now. _Wow,_ she thought, _I was out for a while._ "Look outside…" She turned her sleepy eyes to the window, and woke up immediately. It was so green… Maybe even greener then Virginia.

"Welcome to New Orleans…" Silas whispered in her ear with his best southern drawl.

Within the hour they had gotten their luggage and were making their way to the greeting area, which was a large crowded room. Silas seemed to be looking for someone.

"Why don't we get going?" Casey asked.

"Because we're going to be greeted."

"By who?"

"A friend." Silas kept scanning, until he pointed to a group of drivers with signs. A man with a crisp clean suit was holding a sign that read 'Shag'.

Silas led her to the man, waving at him the whole time. As soon as they were close enough, they hugged and laughed. "My God!" the man said in a thick southern accent (much thicker than Silas'), looking Silas over. "Last time I saw you, you weren't grey!"

"I wasn't." Silas chuckled, "How long has it been?"

"Seven years, can you believe it?"

Silas let out a low whistle. "Wow, that long?" He said running his hands through his hair. "Time hasn't been to kind to you either." Silas said, looking the man over.

"Eh, I'm fifty-three, but I still feel twenty-five!" The two men laughed. Fifty-three? The man looked forty at the most; he had broad shoulders, neatly cropped salt and pepper hair, and a young face.

"Jack," Silas put a hand on Casey's shoulder. "This is my wife, Casey. Casey, this is Jack."

"Pleasure to finally meet you, ma'am." They shook hands; he had a firm grip. "Everyone's sorry we couldn't go to the wedding, but tourist season, it gets crazy. Let me get that for you." He took Casey's bags, and motioned for them to follow him, out on the busy New Orleans' street.

"We were all so upset, but you know we couldn't just close it down…" He loaded their bags into an antique black Rolls Royce, and then opened the door of the car for them.

"Oh, no, we understand." Silas said, as they both slid in.

Jack got into the driver's seat and pulled out. "So, why didn't you bring Issac? We all wanted to meet him."

"This trip is for us… A kid and both of us working full time, we needed a break."

For the rest of the ride, Jack and Silas did most of the talking. They kept driving until Casey saw a sign that read 'St. Charles Avenue'. _He has property on St. Charles Avenue?_

"Look." Silas pointed out the window as they pulled into a large winding driveway.

Casey's jaw dropped. "That's your… house?"

He just smiled and nodded. It was a huge white house, with three levels, and ornate detailing. Did Casey forget to mention it was the largest house she had ever seen?

They got out of the car, and Casey just gawked at the house. Jack and Silas carried the bags up the large steps and Jack pushed open the large doors. Inside the house it was bright and welcoming, white walls and gold detailing. There was large ornate furniture everywhere. "Holy crap…" Was all Casey could say.

Silas chuckled. "This was my grandfather's home, then my mom got it, and when she died, I got it. I couldn't stay down here though, so I let Jack and the rest of my staff turn it into a hotel."

"Silas!" Casey looked into the sitting room next to them, and an older plump woman in a power suit was running towards them. She hugged Silas. "Oh, my boy, it's been too long!"

Silas hugged her back. "It has been, Marie."

"And you must be Casey!" Marie hugged Casey. "I'm Marie, and I keep this ship running." Jack let out a little snort at that. "Oh, be quiet you." She had the cutest southern accent, too; Casey couldn't help but smile.

"I'm excited to meet you all as well."

Silas picked up both of their bags. "Well, there will be plenty of time to get to know each other during dinner, which is at…"

"Seven sharp." Marie said. "All the guests will have gone by then."

"Seven. We'll get settled, and be down before then."

"Do you want me to get your bags, sir?" Jack asked.

"No, I got it."

"You remember where you're going?" Marie asked.

Silas chuckled as he turned toward the stairs. "I grew up here too, ya know."

Silas led her up to the top floor, down multiple hallways, which were filled with statues, busts, and paintings, until they reached a huge ornate door at the end of an endless hallway. Silas produced a key, and unlocked the door. Inside was a huge master bedroom that was maybe as big as their whole apartment back in New York; it had a large four poster bed, a balcony with large windows that let the sunlight pour in, and a large fireplace with two huge winged armchairs. Casey also caught a glimpse of the bathroom that looked to be made completely out of marble and gold.

"Wow." Casey was speechless.

"Best room in the whole house." Silas said, closing and locking the door. "It was my parents' room; I asked them to keep it away from guests, as my new private room." She felt him snake his arms around her midsection, and kiss her neck.

"What happened to your room?"

"It was converted into a card room." He slid her jacket off. "So, we've got a few hours to kill…" Casey felt herself molding into his body.

"What were you planning on doing?"

"I wanted to test out the bed and the new soundproofing they put on the walls." Casey could no longer think; Silas was ok with that, and in a few minutes he'd have her thinking about only one thing… how loud she was screaming his name and how she was so glad no one could hear her.

XXX

Oh, Mr. Shag has some "unfinished business" down here… wonder what it is? Any guesses?

Oh, and after (I think it was) VampirePrincess' comment about how Diane Neal is coming, I did my little happy dance :) Now they just need to keep her back on as a regular, put on a sexy FBI agent from New Orleans, have them hate each other, then get married, and my life will be complete.

REVIEW! NOW! OR ELSE!


	32. The Stars, The Moon

**The Stars, The Moon; They Have All Been Blown Out (XXXII)**

"Oh!" Casey pointed down to the street below. "Did you see that one?"

Silas leaned over a bit. "Damn I missed it. What was he doing?"

"He walked right into that stop sign!"

Both of them laughed. Silas took another sip of the beer bottle in his hand and offered it to Casey; she gladly accepted it.

"I thought this was going to be dumb," Casey leaned against Silas. "But people watching's fantastic. I can't believe you used to do this all the time!"

Silas wrapped an arm around his wife. They had been part of the festivities bellow for a little bit, then Silas grabbed a few beers, and led her over to a building and climbed up the fire escape. This was what he used to do with his friends before he left; sit on the roof of the tallest building, and watch all the drunken idiots below.

Silas fingered the colorful plastic beads around Casey's neck. "Yeah, I always found it more fun than being the one laughed at."

Casey kissed him. "You're so bad." She purred.

Silas smiled and took the beer from her hand. "You finished it!"

"No I only had a few sips; you finished it!"

Silas swung his legs back over the side of the building, and stood up on the flat rooftop. "Come on!"

Casey stood up. "Silas, where are we going?"

He took her hand, and pulled her along. "Just trust me."

They jogged over the connected rooftops as the lights and sound from below crept up.

They came to a small alleyway that separated two of the buildings. Silas let go of her and hand and ran towards it. "Silas, don't!" She let out a gasp when he jumped and landed on the other side.

"Come on!" Silas was laughing. "Just jump!"

"Oh no, you can't make me!"

"Come on Case, it's not that far!"

Maybe it was the bit of alcohol in her system, but a voice in the back of her mind said 'Eh, what the hell, go for it!' The voice of reason in her had checked out, to join in the festivities below.

She ran and jumped. The rush was fantastic. She landed next to Silas, and they both burst out laughing, near hysterics. "Come on! Come on!" He was like a little kid on Christmas, running down the stairs to the tree. They kept running, jumping over alleyways, until the music sounded fainter.

Silas stopped suddenly, and turned around. "Look."

Casey turned around, and gasped. The city's skyline was in front of them, lit up from the lights on the streets below, casting eerie shadows and lights everywhere. The sky was lighter because of the lights, but the moon, the moon was full and huge as it loomed over the city. It was easily one of the most beautiful things Casey had seen.

"Silas, this is… wow." She looked over next to him; he was grinning like an idiot.

"This is the way I try to remember it; not like after Katrina, or when I came to bury my mom. This is how I want you to remember it."

He took her hands. "I told myself I was going to kiss my wife right here, and try to be as romantic as possible about it."

"Well, then where are the roses?"

"Actually…" Silas let go of her hands and ran over to a chimney, and pulled something out from behind it. It was a bouquet of roses. He held them out to her.

Casey took them. "My suspicions are confirmed; you are magic."

Silas smiled, took her face in his hands, and kissed her. Casey then discovered her had also brought a blanket and a few pillows, and then they were making love right there on the roof. Casey thought it was just as sexy as when they had done the deed in the Vatican on their honeymoon.

XXX

I know this one was kinda short, but it was just meant to be a fun little Marti Gras thing, ya know… before the drama? Drama starts next chapter, so no matter how much this chapter sucked, review, or there shall be no drama. Maybe if I get enough reviews, I'll put the next chapter up by the end of the day :)


	33. You Been Acting Awful Tough Lately

**You Been Acting Awful Tough Lately (XXXIII)**

A few days later, after all the festivities were over, Silas and Casey were curled up in the huge bed, after yet another fantastic round of sex.

"You know…" Casey murmured, pressing kisses to his neck. "Issac asked me when we're coming home."

"Soon." Silas said running his hands over her perfect skin; she shivered at his cool touch. "I have to conduct some… ah business tomorrow."

"Ah," Casey rolled her eyes. "And what is this mysterious 'business'?"

"It's really not that-"

"Oh yes it is." Casey pulled herself closer to him. "Silas, I thought we're going to be honest with each other."

Silas sighed. "Do you remember how my daddy was killed by a serial killer?"

"They caught him though; it's over."

Silas inhaled. "There's been a recent string of murders, that either suggests a copy-cat or…"

"Or what?"

"There was a hair found on the body of the first victim that didn't belong to Mac Calhoun. In the new string of murders another hair was found on the body of the first victim… They matched. Mr. Calhoun had a partner."

Casey sat up, shocked. "When did you find out?"

"A few months ago."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to be sure. Calhoun hasn't flipped yet, saying he never had a partner. I asked the NOPD if I could talk to him." He pulled her back down, and kissed her sensitive neck. "But right now, it's just us, and our lazy day in bed. No serial killers, no motions, no signatures, just us."

Casey responded immediately to his touches; before she lost the ability to speak, she looked down at Silas. "Promise me something."

"Anything."

"Don't do anything stupi-…" Silas put a hand on the back of her neck and pulled her down into a searing kiss, cutting her off; he didn't really want to keep that particular promise.

XXX

The next morning, Casey watched from the bed as Silas suited up for the visit to Angola; literally. She didn't think she had even seen him pack a suit.

He was trying to straighten his blue tie, without success. "Come here." Casey motioned him over, and fixed it for him.

"Thanks." Silas brushed his lips over hers. "I'll be back in a few hours hopefully. Jack's offered to take you out shopping and to see the sights."

"I'll have to take him up on that."

"Have a good time." She pulled him down for another kiss; she felt his service piece push into her side, and suppressed a shudder. Sometimes, she hated Supervisory Special Agent Shag and the risks he took. She liked Silas her husband much better.

"Be careful ok?"

"I will…" he said giving her one final kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too."

He gave her one final smile before he slid out the door.

XXX

Silas looked through the one way window, arms crossed, expression frosty. Mac Calhoun sat at the table, staring back, like he could see Silas. Even though he was sixty-nine years old, his body language still held all the malice that they held in the photographs and recordings from thirty-six years ago, that Silas had watched before this interview.

"You remember the plan, right?" Silas said not looking at the guard next to him.

"I don't know… Maybe you need to refresh my memory." The guard hinted.

Shag sighed and magically produced a twenty; the guard took it. "Now I got it."

"Good." The guard was the only member of the plan who needed to be recruited. The warden was an old friend of his dad's and the security tape guy was a friend of his from high school. The warden had put the interrogation in this room, the security tape guy had his job, and the guard would take a convenient bathroom break.

It was quite illegal, and if anyone else knew what was about to happen there would be major consequences.

Silas just smoothed the lapels of his jacket, and stepped inside.

Calhoun looked up at him, and then smiled a bit. "You've grown up since the trial."

"Who did you work with?" Silas asked coldly.

"You're just like your daddy; he cut right through the crap too." Calhoun leaned back a bit. "Asked me how it felt to have no feelings when I broke each of his fingers… one at a time… You look just like him. Without the ridiculous hair and beard of course."

Silas wasn't going to let this guy get under his skin. He kept his cool, and checked his watch. "I don't have time for this." Silas said casually. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

"Like I haven't heard that before." Calhoun snorted.

"The hard way it is." Silas stood up and removed his jacket and tie. "In thirty-seven seconds, the video feed will play footage that has been previously recorded of two people who look like us. The guard posted outside will walk away for five minutes. We will be all alone."

Calhoun's eyes flashed fear.

"Five… four… three… two… one…" Silas counted down as he coolly rolled up his cuffs.

He lunged at Calhoun, grabbed him by his shirt and threw him against the wall.

"_Sonofabitch_!" Calhoun screamed. "Guards!"

"No one can hear you scream!" Silas hissed as he kneed the man in the stomach, and then grabbed him by his thinning hair. "Tell me who he is!"

Calhoun didn't say anything; Silas punched him in the jaw. "You know, in the original profile you profiled like a dominate psychopath, but now I know the truth!" Silas hit him again. "Your partner was the dominate one! He made you feel special when he let you rape those women, leaving your DNA all over their bodies! He was setting you up!"

Calhoun looked up, face full of surprise. "He was?"

Half way there; Silas just needed a name. "Oh yes he did! He got off not only on the killings, but on your stupidity!" He glanced at his watch… a little over a minute left.

A look of revelation washed over Calhoun's face. "My God, he was!"

"His name," Silas whispered urgently. "I need his name!"

"Rich Fuller!" Calhoun gasped. "Make the son-of-a-bitch pay!"

Shag dragged him back over, dropped him in the chair, picked up his tie and jacket, and walked out of the interrogation room. He knew that Calhoun didn't want to make him pay for the thirteen women they had both killed, but for the selfish reason that he had taken the fall for this guy. Rich Fuller. Calhoun was right though; Silas was going to make him pay.

XXX

I have some extra free time so I decided to post the next chapter. I'm spoiling you all rotten…

Oooohhhh… I smell revenge… What's Casey going to think of all of this? Hm? And what about our nefarious neighborhood serial killer, Mr. Fuller? Well, if you want to know how all of this plays out, REVIEW!


	34. Eye For an Eye

**Eye For an Eye, Tooth For a Tooth, Blood For Blood (XXXIV)**

"Rich Fuller…" Casey mulled over the name, as she took a sip of her whiskey. "What's going to happen?"

Silas nodded across from her as he took a much longer swig of his own whiskey. "I told the NOPD. They're tracking him down now." Silas looked bad, his clothes disheveled, face pale, eyes darting back and forth; he ran his hands through his already messy hair and gave it a yank. "God, I want to track the son-of-a-bitch down myself and kill him with my bare hands…"

Casey saw anger flash in his eyes, and she reached across the table to him. "You know better than anyone that you can't take the law into your own hands."

Silas bit his lip in guilt; Casey still had yet to ask him how he had even gotten the name.

She was about to ask him what was wrong, when his phone rang; Silas quickly picked it up. "Hello?" His eyebrows went up. "Ok… ok… thank you… I'll be there as soon as I can." He closed the phone, pulled out a few bill, and tossed them on the table.

"What's going on?"

"They've got Fuller trapped in his house not too far from here. NOPD wants me there." He slid on his jacket. "I'll call Jack to-"

Casey stood up. "I'm going."

"Oh, no you're not."

"Oh, yes I am." Casey was using the voice she reserved for perps. "You can't keep pushing me out of this."

"Pushing you out of what?"

"Your family!" She snapped. "We talk about our problems, about the things we see, but we don't touch your family, which is clearly one of your biggest problems!"

Silas' eyes narrowed in anger. "This has nothing to do with my family!"

"Oh, it has everything to do with your family!" People in the bar were beginning to stare.

"I'm just trying to put a serial killer away!"

"No, you're trying to avenge your father! You need to understand that I'm your wife now, and you need to let me in!"

"You've been my wife for quite some time now-"

"But up until this point, I've known nothing about your parents except that your mom was loaded, she met your dad who was a FBI hippie, he was killed by a serial killer, and then your mom died of cancer!"

It was so quiet in the bar you could've heard a pin drop. Silas glared at the bar goers. "Fine!" he said at last. "Let's go." And he stormed out, Casey on his heels.

XXX

There were about a dozen black and whites, and one SWAT bus there when they arrived.

A detective came up to greet the two of them. "Agent Shag." They two men shook hands.

"Detective Bass. This is my wife, ADA Casey Novak of the Manhattan District Attorney's office." Casey and the detective shook hands. "Do you have a vest?"

Bass motioned at a young cop who brought forward a vest; Casey took his jacket as he slid it on. "We've got the entire perimeter surrounded. The last time there was movement was about ten minutes ago."

"Any weapons registered?"

"A few hand guns, a rifle, and a fourteen gauge shotgun. Who knows what else he may have though."

"We're making a hard entrance?"

"Yessir."

Silas pulled out his service piece, and loaded a bullet into the chamber. "Let's do this."

Bass walked away to organize the SWAT teams; Silas was about to join him when Casey grabbed his hand and pulled him back. She gently kissed his cheek. "I never get to tell you to be careful when you go and kick down doors."

The corners of Silas mouth turned up a little bit. "I'm not usually the one who kicks down doors."

Casey smiled weakly. "You know what I mean."

Silas kissed her on the lips gently. "I'll be careful."

XXX

Silas and Bass were leading the squad taking the front of the house. Bass glanced at Silas, the banged on the door. "Richard Fuller! This is the New Orleans Police Department! Open up!" They waited a few seconds.

Silas nodded to Bass, and then the detective motioned to the SWAT guy with a battering ram. "Hit it." The door was bashed it, and the team flooded in.

Outside crouched by a patrol car with a few cops, Casey began to get nervous.

They ran through the one floor house, clearing rooms as they went.

Silas shouldered open the bedroom door, scanning the room until his gun trained on a figure; Rich Fuller was just standing there, hands behind his back, smiling.

"Ah, Silas Shag." Fuller smiled. "I've only seen pictures of you, but you look so much more like your daddy in person."

"Rich Fuller, you are under arrest for the murders of…"

"You even sound like him."

"Let me see your hands."

Fuller just smiled.

"Hands! NOW!"

Fuller's hand jerked; Silas saw something black in his hand and reacted, double tapping him.

Fuller was dead before he even hit the ground.

XXX

The day after he had shot and killed Fuller the New Orleans branch of the FBI's IAB cleared Silas. Fuller had been holding a .22 snub-nose pistol, so he had killed Fuller for the safety of everyone else in that building.

Silas had decided to take Casey to the cemetery where his parents were buried; he admitted that maybe he hadn't involved her in his family (or what was left of it) as much as he could have.

As the stood there, looking down at the two ornate headstones, arms wrapped around the other's waists, Casey spoke quietly.

"They'd be proud of you, you know that, right?"

Nothing.

"I know I am."

When he spoke, Silas' voice was so soft, she almost didn't hear him. "You know, I was all alone in this world, before I met you." He frowned. "My mother was the only true family I ever had. My team at the BAU, Lightman, SVU, they may have been my friends, but there was never anyone that I could trust, especially after I almost died. I was all alone."

Casey laid her head on his shoulder. "You're not anymore."

Silas squeezed her a little tighter. "Thanks." After one last look at the headstones, he turned and led her towards their waiting car. "We should get ready to go back home now."

XXX

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Now, REVIEW! Pretty please… because this time I'm actually being nice about it :)


	35. Devil Horns, Best Friends

**Devil Horns, Best Friends (XXXV)**

Casey strode down the hall to Elizabeth Donnelly's office; her boss had sent her an urgent message, saying she needed to see Casey, ASAP.

Casey had five cases to arraign, a shit-load of cases on her desk, a cross-examination to work on, and she was exhausted because her husband had kept her up all night after he had an awful nightmare about a shooting in Texas where he was severely injured. And to top it all off, Issac had started kindergarten only two weeks prior, and tomorrow was his first show and tell, and what else did he want to bring in, but his shaking, nervous father, who after these kinds of nights was just as unstable as a war veteran suffering from PTSD. So tonight she had to try to get him back to working condition.

Casey had to put on the happy face for her boss though, even though it was the last thing she was worried about. When she got to the office, she fixed her hair, put on a plastic smile and opened the door.

Her smile faded into a look of surprise when she saw Donnelly chatting with none other than Alexandra Cabot. Both women looked towards the door, and Casey could have sworn she saw what looked like surprise across Alex's face.

"Ah, Casey, thank you for coming." Liz said with a smile. "I believe you already know Alex."

Casey smiled again to make Liz happy. "Yes."

"Good, because you two are both going to be working with SVU."

Both Alex and Casey looked at Donnelly, disbelief on their faces.

"Well don't look so happy." Liz said. "And don't fret, neither of you will be sitting second chair." She was smiling, clearly enjoying this. "You'll each get your own cases."

"Not to be disrespectful, but I can handle SVU on my own." Casey said, trying to be polite as possible.

"Casey, you have a family now; I figured this would allow you to spend more time with them instead of cloistered in your office all day long." Liz smiled because she knew she was right; Casey was spread so thin over all the cases that it was a miracle if she saw Issac before he went to bed some times. "I know, I know, I should have done this when you first had your son, but I was waiting for the right person to come along." She motioned to Alex. "Now please, show Alex to her new office; it's right next to yours."

Casey nodded, not knowing what to say, so she just led Alex to her new office, in silence. Once they got there, Alex went to grab the door knob, but stopped, and looked at Casey. "It'll be fun working together." She said, trying to be friendly.

"It will be." Casey lied.

They just waited a few awkward beats, and then went to their respective offices, without saying another word to the other.

XXX

"Silas, I was ready to kill Donnelly!" Casey snapped, snatching Silas' dinner plate from in front of him, and dumping what was left on it in the garbage so she could start the dishes.

"Uh… I wasn't…" Silas looked up, and then reconsidered, shaking his head. "Never mind… She does have a point though…"

"Which is?" She retorted.

"We're both spread too thin for my tastes. This way you'll have fewer cases to worry about, so you can be home earlier." He picked up a few plates and brought them over to sink. "And this is the perfect opportunity to slow down and relax a bit."

"Dad!" Issac stuck his head in the kitchen. "Saints scored!"

"What?" He abandoned Casey and sprinted into the living room. After a few seconds she heard cheers, and then Silas jogged back into the kitchen. "Sorry, just wanted to make sure we were crushing Minnesota." He picked up a dish and began to wash it while he talked. "So who is this person you're working with anyway?"

"Alex Cabot of all people!"

Next to her she heard Silas' breath hitch a bit.

"Cabot? I thought she was in…?"

"Not anymore."

"Ah…"

"Why? What's up?" She could tell that something was bugging him.

"Oh, well we… we worked together before and it was years ago…"

"And…?"

"It'll be weird, like a blast from the past."

Casey sighed. "Well at least she's not an idiot. And I guess it will be good for us in the long run…"

"Aha!" Silas kissed her on the cheek. "The never-wrong Casey Novak admits that her husband is right for once?"

"Oh shut up…" Casey thought about giving him a well-deserved punch, but then decided against it. "How are you doing?" She asked, changing the subject.

Silas shrugged. "I'm going to call Foster tomorrow, if that's what you mean."

"How was work?"

"Like any other day." He deadpanned.

Casey bit her lower lip. "We can talk about it later, if you want…"

The corners of his mouth turned up a little bit. "Yeah, I'm going to need to talk about it if I want to make it through show-and-tell tomorrow."

Casey smiled, and kissed him. "I've got the dishes… go watch your game."

A huge grin spread across Silas' face. "Your wish is my command." He sprinted back into the living room without a second thought.

XXX

Sorry it was a short chapter…

Ooohhh… Alex is back… you all know what that means… buhahaha…

Sooo… I know this is a bit of an odd request, but if we have any artists in the crowd, would someone like to sketch up Silas for me? I don't draw people that well (inanimate objects are much easier to draw), so if someone would just like to do a quick doodle for me, that'd be awesome, because whenever I try to picture Mr. Shag, I keep changing him, and I just want a set image… thanks :)

REVIEW! Do it!


	36. A Walk Around the Lake To Ease Your Mind

**A Walk Around the Lake, To Ease Your Mind (XXXVI)**

Casey unceremoniously dropped a stack of cases on Alex's desk.

"These are all cases I personally haven't been involved in, mostly cut and dry, you know just to get you back into the swing of things." The redhead explained.

Alex picked up a file and flipped through it; she frowned when she saw it was only an indecent exposure case. "I can handle heavier cases."

Casey fought the urge to roll her eyes. "I have no doubt that you can't, it's just-" Her phone rang; when she checked the caller ID she was glad to see it read 'Silas Shag'. "Excuse me, I have to take this." She took a couple steps back and answered it. "Hi sweetie." She smiled.

Alex forgot; in the time after the Connor trial, she had gone off, gotten married, and had a kid. Alex wondered who the guy was.

"That's good, I'm glad it went well. You'll have to tell me all about it later." She looked so happy. "Can I talk to Daddy? I love you, and I'll see you after school." Pause. "Hey… yeah… glad it went well…" she let out a soft chuckle. "Alright… call if you need anything… love you too…" She closed the phone. "Sorry, it was my son's first show and tell."

Alex had to smile a bit. "It's ok."

"Where were we?"

"I can handle heavier cases."

"Well there are like ten or eleven cases right there; when new ones start to come in we can split them up."

"Ok, sounds good."

Casey turned to go. "Good luck."

"You too."

XXX

Alex decided to go to the 1-6 to let everyone know she was back, guns blazing. It would be good to see everyone again, go back to old times. Hopefully they would accept her back.

As soon as she slid out of the elevator, she saw him; Special Agent Silas Shag, the man she had been waiting to see ever since she had gotten out of witness protection, but never had to courage to call up. She went to wave to him, ask if he was available for dinner (maybe he was even single now).

Before she could even raise her arm, another woman walked around the corner and hugged him. _Oh God, it's Casey Novak._

Alex stealthily moved closer without them seeing, to eavesdrop on their conversation. Was she cheating on her husband with Silas? Alex wouldn't put it past either of them. Then she heard what they were talking about…

"How'd show and tell go?"

"Good." _Jesus, he still has that accent after what, fifteen years in New York?_ "He pulled me in the circle, and goes 'this is my daddy and he's from New Orleans, the coolest city in the world'. Then he proceeds to talk about New Orleans and Marti Gras, and how the Saints destroyed the Vikings last night. Nothing about the FBI. I told his teacher that next time he'd bring me in as his Dad the FBI agent."

"That must've freaked her out."

"Yeah, she let me know that my gun is to stay in the car, no matter how much the kids beg."

"Did you bring it in today?"

"Do you really think I'm that dumb?"

Casey let a low whistle. "How's Gillian?"

"She's good."

Her voice dropped. "How are you doing?" Alex had to strain to hear.

"I know why I was back in Texas." Silas said. "The widow of the officer I was talking to during the shooting called. It's the nine year anniversary today. She calls every year to see how I'm doing. I can't believe I forgot…" The color had drained from his face. "We were talking right outside the door one minute, he's down the next, then I'm down, and I can't move, and I see Jim laying there, God half his face is blown off and his brains are all over the sidewalk…"

He was shaking, and Casey was trying to calm him down. Alex remembered that one. It was right before she went into witness protection, and he had been completely shaken up by the whole thing; Alex remembered he would wake up in the middle of the night shaking, sweating, and screaming sometimes.

"Stay with me Silas, stay with me." Casey was saying. "Breathe."

He inhaled deeply and calmed down a bit. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

Silas sighed. "It never is, it seems."

"Stop being a drama queen; you're buying me lunch."

Silas raised an eyebrow. "What's the occasion?"

"For doing the dishes so you could watch your game."

"Ah, I see." He took her hand in his, laced their fingers together, and led her to the elevator. Alex ducked in a doorway so they wouldn't see her as they passed. As soon as they were in the elevator, she poked her head back out. _So they're married… Guess he just has a thing for young ADAs._

Then Alex wondered if Casey knew about their fling. Maybe she just didn't care. Casey had to have had other boyfriends.

Whatever. Silas had moved on; it was time Alex should as well.

XXX

Silas, Silas, Silas! He was all Alex could think about.

So much for moving on.

She hadn't seen him since that day in the squad room, but he filled her dreams. She could barely focus on work; and whenever Casey was around she would glance at her wedding bands and be… jealous.

Alex decided that it was time she confronted him. She didn't want to say 'ok I still love you, even though we were never a real thing, leave your wife and child and come back to me'; she knew he wouldn't leave Casey, from what she gathered from their phone conversations Casey had with him every now and then, they were still madly in love with each other.

She still had no idea what she was going to say as she stood outside of his office at the FBI New York office. Alex Cabot always had something to say, but Silas Shag, and ex-lover who probably had no more feelings for her, had made her speechless. And they hadn't even talked in five years.

She knocked anyway.

A muffled "Come in." met her ears, and she pushed open the door.

He looked up and his dark blue eyes met her light blue ones.

The first thing Alex though was how much older he looked. The first thing Silas thought was how she still hadn't gotten contacts.

He sat up and set his pen down. "Casey told me you were back." He said at last, breaking the silence.

Alex just nodded, still speechless.

"You thought you were all sneaky, spying on our conversation." Silas was cool and collected as always. "Must've shocked you to learn we'd been married."

"I was." Alex said at last.

"You expected to come back and find me a bachelor, ready to take you back."

Alex didn't say anything. "So yes then." He confirmed; she forgot he could read faces like books, even hers.

"I'm not leaving Casey." He was looking her straight in the eye, and it made Alex feel almost uncomfortable. "I love her."

"I wasn't going to ask you to leave her."

"Then why are you here?"

Alex sighed. "I don't know."

"Yes you do."

"This can't go on," She found her courage again. "We used to be such good friends, even before our… whatever it was."

"What are you trying to say?"

She wanted him to stop poking at her psyche like the perps he interviewed. "I want things to go back to the way they used to be!" she yelled, frustrated. "We used to be such good friends…"

"Well you're making it hard, seeing as you're not over us."

Alex opened her mouth to go into prosecutor mode, to rip his sorry ass a new one; she was trying to make up for the fight they'd never had or will have, and he was shooting her down.

He held up his hand, silencing her. "Don't. You're clearly not over it. I am though; I have a beautiful wife and a wonderful son. If you're just trying to get back in my life to ruin that, I won't let you."

"Who said I am?" Alex was steaming now.

"It is written all over your face." He said putting emphasis on each word.

"Does she even know?" Alex spat.

"No, and if you tell her, there will never be any chance of us ever being friends again."

"Well you're shooting me down, Silas! I'm trying to repair this and-!"

"Come back to me when you're really over it, Alex." He said, nodding to the door. "And you know I'm right."

They just stared each other down. Before she turned to go Alex said one last thing; "If you knew I was still alive, would you have waited for me?"

Silas glanced at the pictures of Casey and Issac on his desk. "For Casey… no."

Alex knew she had lost. She spun on her heel and stormed out, slamming the door closed behind her.

XXX

OOOOHHHH! What's gonna happen next? Guesses?

I hope that wasn't too home-wrecky for ya, VampirePrincess, but I mean, you hide an affair with an ADA like A Cabz, and shit's a-gonna hit the fan.

Darn, so I guess I get no portrait. Whatever.

REVIEW! NO MORE NICE CYPHER! REVIEW OR I TAKE THE NEXTCHAPTER HOSTAGE!


	37. But I'm Moving On, My Heart Has Grown

**But I'm Moving On, My Heart Has Grown (XXXVII)**

Silas had been called out to a killing in Jersey that night; a little boy, about five years old, found buried in a shallow grave. This was the fourth killing like it in the past six months.

While he stood there looking at the dead boy, he was thinking about everything; How it was getting harder now to keep the horror out of his head, even with Casey and Gillian's help, Alex and their conversation, and now this little dead boy, who looked like his son, and how he was going to fill his nightmares tonight.

He got back at about one in the morning, opening the door trying to making as little noise as possible, stepping on the floorboards that didn't squeak, and then slid into his and Casey's room.

She was sleeping peacefully, the faint light from the moon illuminating her porcelain skin. He quickly and quietly stripped down to his boxers, and slid into bed, staring at the ceiling, hands folded over his chest. Casey rolled over and snuggled close to him. "How was Jersey?" she asked sleepily, without opening her eyes.

Silas didn't say anything at first. "White male." When he spoke it was almost robotically. "Late thirties, early forties." Casey opened her eyes and propped herself up on her elbow. "He has a typical low paying, white collar job, office worker maybe. Methodical."

"What?" Casey was confused; it sounded like he was giving a profile or something…

"He cares for his victims; the way he places the bodies shows this." Tears were leaking out of his eyes; Casey had never seen him cry before.

Casey was getting worried now. "Silas, come back to me, please…" she started to shake him a bit.

"God, he was only five years old." Silas choked out. "And he looked just like…" Casey didn't need him to finish the sentence.

She pulled him up and wrapped her arms around him.

"Casey, you need to know, Alex Cabot and I… we were… a thing, a very long time ago." tears were rolling down his nose. "And looking at that little boy in the shallow grave, it made me think of how grateful I was to have you and Issac and not her."

Casey was shocked at this revelation and even a bit angry that he hadn't told her before; she had told him about Charlie, she expected the same kind of honesty. But then as she looked at the shaking, crying mess in her arms, she finally saw just how broken he was, how much he had been hurting in such a short life, and how she needed to be there for him now.

"When?" Was all she wanted to know right now.

"2000 to 2003."

"And you haven't-?"

"No, no, no never." He wrapped his own arms around her. "I love you." The sadness in his voice broke Casey's heart. "And it blows my mind that you put up with me, my problems, my job, everything. You could have had any man you wanted…"

"But I wanted you. I still do." She stroked his hair. "You need to get that through your thick skull."

"I'll try." He said with a weak smile.

XXX

Alex Cabot heard a knock on her door of her office. "Come in." The door opened and she looked up, surprised to see and exhausted looking Silas Shag. They said nothing.

Silas pulled out his wallet and took something out of it, as he crossed the room to her desk, where she was seated. He handed her a picture; it was of a smiling young boy who looked just like him.

"That is my son, Issac." Silas said, voice low. "He loves to run around the house, his favorite movie is 'The Princess Bride', and he asks every day when we're going down to New Orleans. I say he has Casey's eyes; Casey says he has my smile."

Alex examined the picture. "He does." She handed it back to him.

After a few beats of silence, Silas spoke. "I told Casey."

Alex didn't say anything at first. "What did she say?"

"She was just angry I didn't tell her before. But she doesn't care what we did before she and I met; she just cares that I love her now." Silas' expression softened. "I want my son to know who you are; one of my best friends who helped me through some very hard times, because before we were whatever we were, you did just that and I will never be able to thank you enough." He held out his hand. "I'm ready to try again if you are."

Alex looked at his hand, and then shook it. "I think I am."

XXX

Sorry it took me a while to update, I've been mad busy. Also sorry it's kind of short.

Review! Or Else! Because I think you'll enjoy the next chapter…


	38. Let's Open Our Eyes To the Brand New Day

**Let's Open Our Eyes To the Brand New Day (XXXVIII)**

About One Year Later

Silas glared angrily at the blank Word document, trying to make the words appear on the screen; the cursor was blinking idly, as if it was mocking him. Just a few weeks ago, he had been asked by a huge publishing company to write a book on serial killer pathology, after reading an article he had written, calling it 'brilliant'. Silas had said yes; how hard could writing a book be?

Really hard apparently. He loosened his tie, and leaned back in his chair, surveying his office at the FBI headquarters in New York. It was a plain, white, the only windows in the room made up the whole back wall at his back. He liked the privacy his office had, especially when Casey was here. In speaking of which, she should be here soon for their lunch date. Food would get his creative juices flowing.

The door opened, right on time, and Casey shouldered her way in, balancing two cups of coffee and two bags of what smelled like Thai.

"Ah, my muse!" Silas stood up, smiling.

"Why thank you." Casey said, setting the food on the desk.

"Not you, the food."

Casey fake frowned. "So sad; you are now not getting laid for a week."

"Oh, my beautiful wife!" Silas walked around the desk and pressed his lips to hers.

"Mhm, much better."

"Good." He pulled up a chair and grabbed his food. Casey joined him.

"So, how's the book going?" she asked.

"Eh, not good. I can't put a single word on paper."

"Are you kidding me? Six months ago, you locked yourself in our office typing up that article that got you this book deal, for about a week."

"Well, that was a five page article. This is going to be a five hundred page book."

"Oh stop it, you're such a wimp."

Silas smiled mischievously. "That's not what you were saying yesterday…" Casey blushed. "I love that."

"Love what?"

"How after seven years I can still make you blush." He used his leg to pull her chair right next to his, and stuck his fork into her box.

"Hey!" Casey stabbed at his hand with her own fork. "Eat your own lunch!"

"You should be used to my mooching… Let's make a deal…" He offered her his own box. "Some of my noodles for some of your chicken."

"The People have no objections." They took a few bites of the other's food.

They ate in silence for a bit; Casey noticed his eyes roaming over her silk purple blouse.

"I like your shirt." He said, his voice low and husky.

Casey smiled, set her box on his desk, stood up, and slowly undid the first few buttons of her blouse. "I have something else you might like…"

Silas leaned back with a roguish smile as she revealed a slate grey lacy bra. "That's a new one…"

Casey crooked a finger, beckoning him over to her; he rose and continued to unbutton her shirt, running his cold fingers over her milky-white skin. Casey shivered, and felt her bum hit the edge of his desk.

Casey was pulling at the knot in his tie, kissing his Adam's apple. "Let's make a baby." She whispered, undoing the buttons on his shirt.

He reached behind her and pushed a few files and papers over, then lifted her onto the desk. She wrapped her legs around his waist which caused her skirt to ride up, revealing a matching pair of panties.

She heard a drawer open and Silas was fumbling around, trying to find something. "What are you looking for?"

"Condom."

"I was serious; I want another baby."

They both stopped and looked each other in the eye. "Case, we haven't even talked about it…"

"We're both almost forty, Silas. I want another one before it's too late." She was serious; it was written all over her face.

He slowly shut the drawer, never breaking eye contact; Casey smiled a bit before their lips crashed together again.

When she left about an hour later, Silas sat in front of the computer again and began typing; 'Rage! O goddess, sing! Sing of the rage of the killers of men and women who have no remorse for what they have done…'

XXX

A Few Weeks Later

As soon as they put Issac to bed, they ran back to their room, and tore open one of the pregnancy tests they had bought.

First test was positive. They did two more, both positive.

They looked at each other, then at the tests, then back at each other. Silas then scooped up Casey and carried her to their bed, where they kissed and sat and talked for a while.

The next evening they we eating dinner, and Issac was poking at the string beans on his plate.

"Do I have to eat the green?" he asked, looking at his father with his big green eyes.

Silas shrugged, and shoveled a forkful of the vegetables into his own mouth. "Well everyone in New Orleans eats their greens."

Issac took a bite and made a face. "I guess that's the one thing I don't like about New Orleans."

"Well Mom doesn't like the greens either, so she doesn't cook them as well as people down south."

Casey shot him a death glare; Silas just smiled sweetly back at her.

"Uh-oh, Dad, you're gonna get it later."

"Your son's right." Casey said, voice even.

"You couldn't take me."

"Uh-huh, sure… You're the one who taught me how to defend myself; I know all your weaknesses."

Issac jumped off his chair, taking his plate. "I'm gonna leave before this gets ugly. Thanks for dinner." He stood on his toes, and put the plate on the counter; like both of his parents he was already tall, towering above his classmates.

"Sweetie, can you come back for a little bit." Casey called.

He came back and climbed into his seat.

"Well, uh… Issac," Silas looked at Casey for help. "You know how Eli has a bunch of older sisters and Dickie?"

"Yeah."

"Well…" Silas shot another look at Casey.

The verbose woman took over; "Well, they're all Eli's older siblings." She said smiling a bit. "How would you feel about being a big brother?"

"It'd be cool, I guess." Issac was looking at both his parents, trying to figure out what they were trying to tell him. For a four year-old, he had already picked up his father's ability to pick up on subtle hints or things of that nature.

"Well, uh… You're going to be a big brother in a few months." Silas finished.

Issac's eyes were the size of basketballs. "Really?"

Silas nodded. "Yep, Mom's stomach is going to get really big, she's going to get a bit cranky, she's going to eat a lot, and then you're going to have a little brother or sister."

Issac grinned broadly. "I can't wait to tell Eli." He jumped off the chair and hugged both of his parents. "I love you."

"I love you too." Casey's voice was thick with emotion.

Silas ruffled Issac's black hair. "Love you too, kiddo."

Issac ran off down the hall to his room. Silas took Casey's hand and just held it for a few moments.

It was Casey who broke the silence. "'Mom's going to get cranky and eat a lot'?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well you were quite moody and always asking me to get you these exotic foods." Silas shrugged.

Casey rolled her eyes and picked up a few dirty plates. "You're intolerable."

"Then why'd you marry me?"

"Because you're cute."

Silas scooped up a few more plates, came up right behind her, and whispered in her ear, "Or maybe it's because I'm a stallion in bed?"

"That too." Casey smiled, enjoying the feeling of his well-toned body pressing against her back. "But not because you're modest."

XXX

Ok, so as you may or may not have been able to tell, this whole thing is just kind of a bunch of one-shots kinds thrown together. THIS LITTLE SECTION (Which ends a little bit after the birth of the second child) WAS ORIGINALLY GOING TO BE THE LAST ONE! BUT, I was bored and kinda started writing one final one. I'm not going to say what it's about, but after that one, Shnovak will be DONE. My question to you is, are you all getting sick of this story and just want me to end it at the end of this section, or do you want to see what I've been working on after?

Review to let me know. Either way, I won't really care. I also don't think I've said thank you to all my lovely reviewers or anyone who just happens to read this, so THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! You all are fantastic! :)


	39. I've Taken Hits Like a Brawler…

**I've Taken Hits Like a Brawler… (XXXIX)**

About Seven Months Later

Silas and Olivia had been working on this case for forty-eight long, awful hours. A serial arsonist, named Craig King, Silas had already been profiling for the fire marshal, had done something no one could have predicted; he had kidnapped two young children. Silas and Olivia picked the case up right away, hunting the guy down, but never seeming to get any closer. He had torched a few cars in the past two days, and Silas assumed that he would need to burn something large soon, or he's lose it and kill the kids.

They had been following a string of petty fires, asking the locals if they had seen him and all they got were a few 'maybes'.

They walked back to the Crow Vic and got inside. Silas loosened his tie a bit. "Jesus, where is this son-of-a-bitch?" he snapped frustrated.

Olivia sighed, feeling just as exasperated. "We'll catch him, I know it."

Silas just sighed as his phone rang. He quickly flipped it open, not even bothering to check the caller ID. "Shag." He said in a clipped voice; his face lit up after a few seconds. "Hi." He smiled, weakly. "I know, I'm sorry… It's just… It's just good to hear your voice…"

Olivia smiled; she knew Casey had been worried sick about him and was probably angry that he had only the time to text her once or twice over the past two days. "Is he up?" he asked. "Can I talk to him?" Pause. "Hey bud!" Silas was grinning like a fool now. "I miss you too. I'll be home soon. I love you too… Bye… Hey babe…" He sounded just like Elliot when Kathy or the kids called or visited him. "Yeah, I'll be careful… ok, love you… Ok… Love… ok, Casey… love you… I won't… I love you." Silas closed he phone, still smiling. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't be," Olivia smiled. "It was… cute."

Olivia's phone rang now; the caller ID said it was Cragen. "Benson." She answered. "Ok… got it." She hung up. "We've got another possible sighting."

"Where?"

"Abandoned building not far from here."

Silas motioned for her to drive. "What a better place to keep two kids, then to burn it all to the ground."

XXX

"It's his alright." Olivia said, examining the car parked in front of the old building. "Same plates." She pulled out her radio, and quickly gave their coordinates to the rest of the team.

Silas' nostrils flared. "Smell that?"

Olivia smelt the air. "Gasoline."

They both removed their service pieces and entered the building. The made their way their through the first floor, checking rooms as quietly as possible; there was gasoline everywhere.

The kept moving up the floors until they reached the third. They both burst into one of the rooms where they found the two kids, tied up and sitting in a pool of gasoline.

"You get the kids, and bring them out, I'll find him." Silas whispered.

Olivia couldn't argue about his safety right now; these poor kids looked terrified. "Be careful."

The corners of his mouth twitched upward like he wanted to smile. "You sound like my wife."

Silas moved up to the next floor, and followed the gasoline, checking the rooms as he went. The flow stopped before one the bedrooms. He didn't realize what was happening before it was too late.

He was hit in the back with an old beam, and the force of the hit sent his gun flying across the room. He fell and rolled to the side before King could bring the beam down on him again. Silas dove at his legs, knocking him down too. The two fought for a bit on the floor, but King was bigger than Silas was, picked him up easily and threw his at a window with such force, that it shattered, and Silas felt the shards cut through his suit jacket and into his skin.

He was still trying to recover from the blow, when he saw King charging at him again, Silas tore himself out of the window and rolled to the side, avoiding the huge man.

Where the hell did my gun go? Silas thought, looking around the room. His eyes fell upon a black object near another door.

Without thinking twice, he dove towards it, and landed right in a puddle of gasoline. What made it suck even more was the fact that the black object was just a dead rat.

King had pulled out a lighter and was walking quickly towards him. Silas jumped out of the puddle, just as King tossed the lighter toward him.

The flames licked the walls, and surrounded the two men.

Silas quickly shucked his gasoline suit jacket and set it down on the floor, away from the flames.

"Just you and me, pretty boy!" King took a step forward; Silas took a step back, but decided that since his clothes were still soaked in gasoline, that it probably wasn't a good idea.

"Listen, Craig, I know you don't want to die, I don't want to die, if we get out of here, I'll talk to the DA and she'll cut you a deal!" Silas shouted over the roar of the flames.

King shook his head and smiled. "No fuckin' way, I ain't goin' to jail. And since I'm not leaving here alive, I might as well take you with me!"

King charged; Silas dodged the man, and backed up, looking around frantically for a way out.

There was a window a few feet away, if he could just…

King was charging again, and Silas rolled aside. He felt something wet under his arm; it was his gasoline soaked suit jacket.

The metaphorical light bulb went off in the agent's head. King charged again, full speed at Silas. He waited until the last second, and then dodged King, throwing the jacket at his face; King let a roar and fell into the flames. Silas ran forward grabbed King's ankles, and pulled him out of the fire. Silas pulled the flaming jacket off King's face, but Silas knew he was dead; most of his face was melted off.

Since he couldn't save King, he had to save himself. He rushed over to the window, and pounded on the hot glass a few times, but had to back up because the flames were getting closer.

Silas tore off his shirt and used it to cover his mouth so he wouldn't breathe in smoke.

His ears perked up when he thought he heard a voice. Jesus, Liv better have called for back-up… He thought.

"Agent Shag!" It was defiantly a voice.

"Here!" Silas shouted as loudly as could, but his strength was fading fast. "In here!"

The room was spinning now, and the flames were closing in. There was a figure standing in the door. Silas held up his hand and fell forward into darkness

XXX

I'd still like for some more people to let me know about what they think if I should continue Shnovak or not… And I know I have more reviewers out there! I won't post the next chapter until more people let me know! And be honest people, if you think I've dragged this on for too long and want it to end, let me know!


	40. …But I'm Gettin' Back Up Again

…**But I'm Gettin' Back Up Again (XL)**

Casey was sitting across from Arthur Branch, discussing what they should do about a case where the piece of evidence they needed to win had just been thrown out.

"I know that our witness is lying to protect his son." Casey said, using one hand to point to the transcript of the defense's motion hearing, while the other was unconsciously rubbing her swollen stomach. Silas hadn't texted her in a few hours and she was getting worried. "If we can prove it, we can get the clothes back into evidence."

Branch raised his eyebrows. "And how do you expect to do that?"

Casey was just about to open her mouth to answer, when her phone started to ring. She looked at Branch pleadingly; he rolled his eyes but nodded anyway.

"Hello?" She asked as she flipped open the phone.

"Casey?" It was Olivia's voice; Casey groaned inwardly when she remembered that she had been working on the kidnapping case with Silas.

"Yeah."

"Hey, uhh… something… happened… We're at St. Mark's."

Casey knew it was coming, but still hated hearing the words more than anything in the whole world. "Hang on one second." She put the phone down and looked at Branch. "My husband's in the hospital; Can I take the rest of the day off?"

Branch nodded. "Go. Call me later to tell me what's going on. Tell Silas…" Branch paused. "I hope everything's alright."

Casey gave Branch a small smile then walked out. "Liv? You still there? I'll be over as soon as I can…"

XXX

"I'm fine!" Silas sat up, only to be pushed back down by Olivia. "No burns, no nothing! Let me leave!"

Olivia wished Casey would get here soon; maybe she could talk some sense into her hardheaded husband. Sure he had miraculously survived a raging inferno, suffering only from slight smoke inhalation and minor burns, but the doctors had ordered he stay overnight, just to be safe.

It was just as he was about rip the oxygen tubes from out of his nose when Casey walked in. "Silas?" She asked when she saw him in nothing but a pair of singed pants. "What happened?"

"We chased a perp to an abandoned building where he subsequently set the building on fire." Olivia explained.

"I lost my gun in the struggle and then he set the building on fire. We struggled, and I pushed him into the fire." Silas looked away. "He didn't make it."

Casey walked over to Silas, and wrapped her arms around him. "How about you, are you ok?"

"Yeah, just some smoke inhalation and some minor burns, but I'm ok." He glared at Olivia. "I know I'm ok to leave, but everyone else…"

Casey shook her head. "Nope, you're staying until they discharge you."

Silas rolled his eyes. "At least get me a new pair of pants."

XXX

"Daddy, tell me another story." Issac yawned. Casey looked up from the case-file she was going over and smiled. Issac was seated next to his father on his hospital bed and for the last hour he had been telling Issac stories about dragon and knights and princesses.

But right now, the mini-Silas looked just as exhausted as the regular sized Silas.

Casey made eye contact with her husband and shook her head; Silas smiled at her. "Sorry bud, but you have to go. We both need to get some sleep."

Issac looked at Silas then to Casey. "Do I have to?"

Casey closed the file. "Yes, but you're going to Auntie Liv's house for the night."

Issac' face immediately lit up. "Alright." Right on cue, Olivia walked back into the room, carrying two cups of coffee and a bottle of water. She handed a coffee to Casey and a bottle of water to Silas. "Auntie Liv, didya here? I'm sleeping over you house tonight!"

Olivia smiled and picked up the boy. "I heard and I'm very excited. We should get going, so say by to your mom and dad."

Issac waved to his parents. "Bye mom. Bye dad. Love you."

"Love you too sweetie." Casey smiled. Silas waved good-night to his son as Olivia carried him out.

Then I was just the two of them. Casey pulled her chair closer to the bed, setting the file on the bedside table. He reached out to her, letting one hand fall on her stomach as Casey took his other with her own. "Hi."

"Hi."

"I'm sorry." He said, looking away from her, almost ashamed.

"For what?" Casey asked. "You didn't ask King to set the building on fire."

"You told me to be careful." He shook his head. "I wasn't."

"Silas, you save two innocent lives." She leaned in and nuzzled his cheek, planting soft kisses on his jaw. "I'll make an exception for that."

"But I was so scared I would never get to see your face again, or see Issac's smile, or see your second child!" Silas shivered. "I thought I would burn in that room."

"You're here, you're alive, so stop being a drama queen." Casey put a hand on the side of his face. "I love you, so much for doing what you do. No matter what it does."

Silas was happy to hear her say this; he didn't want his job to ruin their marriage, just like it had ruined so many of his friends' marriages and relationships. "I love you too."

XXX

Yay! New reviewers! I'm so glad you guys like Shnovak so much, I guess I'll have to continue it, or I may or may not have an angry mob on my hands…

Now! REVIEW! You too, all you lurkers out there!


	41. Branches Were Sewn By the Color of Green

**Branches Were Sewn By the Color of Green (XLI)**

A Few Weeks Later

At Arthur Branch's insistence, Casey began her maternity leave about a week before her due date; he did not want another repeat of her last pregnancy, which almost resulted in a mistrial.

It was nice to have some time off, but when Silas was at work and Issac was at school, she got bored, and was drawn back to the office, whether it was to just say hi to her friends or to do some paperwork.

It was odd how even after everything they had been through, Casey and Alex were becoming better friends. They had even talked about what had gone on between them before with Silas, and now Casey even used Alex as a babysitter. It was adorable how much Issac loved Alex and after a few short weeks like their other friends at work was calling her Aunt Alex.

Today they were having lunch together a few days before Casey's due date.

"…I was so angry when I met your replacement." Alex said nursing her tea. "He's an idiot. Can't stand him. No one can."

"He's a disorganized sociopath, according to Silas." Casey chuckled; she could even talk about Silas around Alex now without feeling protective. Alex had a boyfriend and apparently they were getting pretty serious. "Told me Stabler almost punched him."

"You've been gone less than a week and we're already falling apart…" Alex laughed. "So, not to long now?"

"No, two days actually."

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"

"No, we want to be surprised." Casey rubbed her swollen stomach.

"Is Issac excited?"

"Oh yes, he helped us decorate the baby's room, even picked out a theme. Noah's Ark."

"I don't know a kid who doesn't like animals, so I'm sure they'll love it." Alex smiled. "If you need anything at all, just call."

"That's all everyone's been telling me. At my final court appearance, Petrovsky told me that if we don't have time to cook dinner just to let her know because she apparently makes a mean lasagna."

"Wow, if a baby gets me a homemade meal from Lena Petrovsky, I'll have to get on that." Both women laughed for a bit. Alex then spoke on a more serious note. "How's Silas feeling?"

"He's better than he was. He was cleared a few days ago, but until then he would try to sneak out of the house to go for a run. He always gets restless when he has to just sit and twiddle his thumbs."

"I can only imagine." They both laughed, but Casey stopped suddenly.

"Oh crap."

"What's wrong?"

"My water just broke."

"Oh crap is right." Alex stood up and helped her friend up. "I'll drive you to the hospital."

XXX

"So, tell me about your relationship with your father…"Silas asked the serial killer seated across from him. He was up at Attica conducting an interview for the BAU's database. They were about an hour into the interview, and the man, Peter Tree's psychopathic interior was beginning to show; he was getting irritable, and no longer wanted to be witty or charismatic.

"What relationship? The fucker walked out on me and mom when I was three."

"I see." Silas leaned back in the metal chair. His phone vibrated in his pocket.

"I see you find me very exciting." Tree smiled a bit at his own dirty joke.

Silas didn't respond to that comment; the caller ID read, 'Alex Cabot'. It couldn't be significant.

"No one important." Silas said returning the phone to his pocket, letting it go to voicemail.

"You mean no one as important as me."

Silas gave him a cold smile. "Sure."

His phone rang again; now Silas was peeved. Caller ID said 'Casey Shnovak'. It was odd that both of them were calling… He remembered that they were going to have lunch later on today. "Excuse me for a moment." Silas stood up and moved away, never turning his back to Tree.

"Shag." He said when he opened the phone.

"You son-of-a-bitch, get down to the hospital now." Casey growled over the phone.

"Alright, why?" Silas asked, keeping his voice level; he noticed the serial killer's right hand twitch just a bit.

"I'm nine months pregnant, what the hell do you think I need you to get your ass down there?" she snapped.

"I see…" Silas checked his watch; three minutes until guards change shifts.

"Then get your sorry ass down to the hospital then!"

"I'm a bit tied up right now…"

"I don't care if you're having lunch with the president of the United States!" Casey screamed, and Silas thought he heard Alex Cabot laughing in the background. "Get down here, now!"

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

"If you don't, I'll cut your balls off!"

Silas moved and positioned himself in front of the window, back to Tree. Thirty seconds until guard change; he saw Tree rise stealthily in the faint reflection in the window. "Well now, that would be undesirable."

"You bet your ass it would be!"

Tree was one of the quietest perps he had seen in a long time, Silas would give him that; he wasn't too far away now. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to excuse me for a moment."

"Silas Atticus Shag!" Casey shrieked as in one smooth moment, just as Tree had pulled out a shiv, Silas closed the phone, countered the attack, pinned Tree to the window, pushing his own shiv into his neck.

"Don't move scumbag." Silas snarled. Tree just whimpered.

Silas pressed the button to call in the guards. It took them a whole minute to respond.

"We are so sorry, Agent Shag." One of the officers said as a few others cuffed Tree. "Are you ok?"

Silas handed the guard the shiv, which was a sharpened toothbrush. "I'm fine, I must be on my way though." And without another word, he pushed past the guard and hurried through the check points, retrieved his gun, and hurried out to the parking lot.

While he was pulling out at seventy miles per hour, he was calling Casey's cell again.

"Silas?" Alex answered the phone.

"Yeah." He said. "Where's Casey?"

"They just took her in; I called everyone else and I'm going to stay with her until you get here."

"Ok, I'll be over as soon as I can."

"I'll let her know."

"Tell her I love her, and that I'm sorry." Silas closed the phone, flipped on the sirens of his car and sped down the highway.

XXX

Well, I have nothing witty to say, except thank you to all my loyal followers! I love you all, and you are all fantastic! Now show your love for Shnovak by reviewing!


	42. This is a Place Where I Don't Feel Alone

**This is a Place Where I Don't Feel Alone… (XLII)**

Silas ran into the room and almost took out Alex as he vaulted himself towards the bed where Casey was laying. "Sorry, I'm so sorry." Silas kept saying when he skidded to a stop by her bed.

"What the hell was going on, at where ever the hell you were?" Casey asked, half angry, half relieved to see him.

"Perp tried to kill me." He smiled a bit, clearly proud of himself. "Unsuccessfully may I add."

"With what?" Alex looked horrified.

"Sharpened toothbrush." Silas said, as if it was no big deal. He grabbed a chair, and pulled it close to Casey's bed; Alex decided to leave for a little bit, to give them some privacy.

Silas ran a hand over Casey's face from her forehead down to her neck; she was sweating a little bit. "How are you?"

"Ok," she shrugged. "Contractions suck."

"I can only imagine."

"Sorry I threatened to cut your balls off before."

"Not an uncommon threat." Silas chuckled.

"We were stuck in traffic, and I was afraid that'd I'd pop right there, in Alex's car." She laughed. "And I'd have to hold her hand."

"You mean break." Silas corrected.

"I did not break your hand!"

"Damn close." He flexed his fingers. "I've mentally prepared myself this time for the pain."

"Good." She motioned him down for a kiss; he happily obliged her.

"I love you."

Casey smiled against his lips. "I love you too."

XXX

"I'm going to kill you." Casey hissed at Silas. The doctor glanced up at Silas, giving him a sympathizing look. "_This is all your_ _fault_."

If it were any other day Silas might have said in a matter-of-factly tone _'Well, this was you idea'_ but instead "You're doing great, Case." Came out of his mouth. Silas winced as her vice grip seemed to tighten on his hand. "Just a few more pushes." Casey glared at him, knowing exactly what he was thinking, and decided to stop making threats against his life.

"One more push, Casey." The doctor said. "You're almost there."

"That's what you said the last time!" she growled.

She squeezed Silas' hand tighter, if even possible, and made an awful sound. Little cries filled the air. Silas saw the baby being wrapped by the doctor in a blanket. "It's a girl!" Casey fell back on the bed, smiling, breathing heavily, her hand still wrapped around Silas'; but as soon as the doctor offered her the bundle, she let go of Silas, and took the baby, cradling it in her arms.

Silas leaned over and smiled down at the crying child. "So we both win," he whispered. "You got your son and I got my daughter."

"I guess we did." She was smiling too at the little crying, tiny bundle in her arms.

XXX

Soon waves of family, friends, and co-workers flooded the small room wanting to see the new baby Novak-Shag. Silas and Casey named Foster and Elliot the godparents, and both were more than happy to accept.

It was funny when Issac met his little sister for the first time. It was only a brief meeting because it was late, but Issac climbed into the bed and looked down at the little baby, saying, "She's so… tiny! When will she get bigger so we can play?"

But now the room was empty, and now Silas was holding the baby, rocking her back and forth by the window. Casey was lying on the bed, smiling at the two of them.

He turned and looked at Casey and made a face at her. "What?"

"You're adorable as a dad."

Silas smiled back at her. "Tell me something I don't know."

"We don't know what her name is."

Silas didn't even have to think about it. "Gwendolyn."

"Gwendolyn?" Casey mulled it over. "It suits her. Gwen…" she smiled at him. "You had that one picked out for a while…"

"Objection! Relevance?"

"Withdrawn." Casey smiled. "Gwendolyn… Florence."

Silas nodded in approval; Florence was easily both their favorite foreign city, and it was their favorite stop on their honeymoon. "Gwendolyn Florence Novak-Shag."

"Quite a mouthful."

"Ah, but beautiful all the same." He smiled down at the infant. "I think she's going to look like you."

"That's what you said about Issac, and now he looks just like you."

"Not his eyes." He looked from Gwen to Casey. "He has your eyes."

XXX

Yay! I hope you all are happy about baby Gwen!

The next chapter was originally going to be the last one, but I had a nifty little idea and I asked you all, the fans, if you wanted me to end it, and most of you have asked me to continue it. So, this is your last chance, IF YOU WANT ME END IT REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW and if you're the complete opposite REVIEW AND YELL AT ME TO KEEP GOING! Thank you all, I don't think I say that enough, so thank you all again, you are all great!


	43. …This is a Place Where I Feel At Home

…**This is a Place Where I Feel At Home (XLIII)**

Seven Years Later

Silas was sitting in bed reading a copy of the case file of a serial killer, a copycat of the Boston Strangler in Maine, the "Maine Strangler", if you will.

Before Casey had nodded off next to him, Silas had been pointing out all the odd similarities in both cases, the M.O., the bows around the neck. It was creepy. She had thrown in her two cents in saying it was probably just some serial killer wannnabe, told him not to make too much noise, and then fell asleep; she needed it. It had been a rough week for her; the jury on her latest case was leaning more toward acquitting a kid who raped his neighbor because of insufficient evidence, so he even turned down the lamp for her so she could sleep a little bit better.

Silas had been studying the pictures and marking something that hadn't been in the report; a picture frame on all the mantels of all the homes had been turn down. Silas starred the frames and made a note to let the detective on the case know tomorrow morning, when he heard a floorboard creak.

He almost reached for the .22 in his bedside drawer, when Gwen poked her head in the dimly lit room. As predicted, she looked exactly like Casey with her strawberry blonde hair that fell into soft ringlets around her shoulders and fair Irish skin. But she had Silas' dark blue eyes.

"Hi sweetie." Silas said closing the file. "What's up?"

"I can't sleep." She said, eyes wide; she was oozing fear out of ever pour.

Silas put the file on the bedside table and quietly slid out of bed. "Again?" Something had been up with Gwen; this was the third time this week she had been up, and had been a bit jumpy lately.

"Yeah."

"Why don't we go make some hot chocolate?"

"Ok." He quietly crossed the floor, Gwen following him into the kitchen. Silas was an expert at making food without making a sound and within five minutes walked over to when Gwen was seated on the couch with two mugs of hot chocolate.

"So." Silas asked. "Why can't you sleep?"

Gwen shrugged. "I don't know." Her face told a different story.

"Oh I think you do know…" Silas said with a smile.

Gwen sighed and looked at her feet. "You won't be mad?"

"No, of course not."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

She sighed. "I… I went into your office." She then added quickly. "Please don't be mad."

Silas exhaled. "I'm not mad." His and Casey's office looked like a little shop of horrors; there were pictures of serial killings, profile boards, and a number of frightening Renaissance era paintings, which to a seven year-old would have been terrifying to look at. "What day did you go in?"

"Tuesday, when you had to leave at night; Mom was busy, and Issac was doing homework… I was curious. It was unlocked."

Silas had left in a hurry the night before, when SVU needed him down at the station to interrogate a suspect; he had left the pictures up of a serial killing Hotch wanted his opinion on. Quite gruesome, their throats slit, mouths slack, eyes still open for maximum shock value. He must have forgotten to lock the door when he left and Casey must have assumed he locked it.

"The pictures scared you?"

"Yeah…" her blue eyes were watering.

"Well," Silas knew what to say; the same thing had happened to Issac when he was Gwen's age. "The man who did that is very sick. He's not here in New York though." _But there are more psychos per captia in New York City then there are in the whole state of Maine,_ Silas thought.

Gwen didn't say anything at first. "Why'd he do it?" she asked at last.

Silas put a comforting arm around her and smiled weakly. "I can't answer those questions, no one can."

"Well, if he's sick can't he just take some medicine?"

Silas let out a weak chuckle. "I wish it were that easy." It was wonderful how she still saw the world in black and white; it made Silas hopeful. "Don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt you, I promise." He finished off his hot chocolate, and stood up. "Think you can go back to bed?"

"I'll try."

He tucked her in, kissed her goodnight, and when back to his own room. Instead of continuing his work, he shut off the lamp, slid back in the bed, and spooned up to Casey.

"Mhm…" She rolled over and snuggled closer to him. "What was it?"

"She got into the office."

Casey exhaled. "It was only a matter of time."

"Yeah." He stroked her hair. "Go back to sleep."

"Are you going to be able to?"

Silas was quite for a second. "No."

Casey pressed a kiss to the hollow of his throat. "Then I guess we're up."

He smiled and placed a kiss on the crown of her head. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

Casey smiled up at him. "Maybe once or twice."

XXX

Well, this would have been where I would have ended it, but I guess if you all really want, I'll keep going… REVIEW! DO IT, DO IT NOW!


	44. And All Your Weight, It Falls On Me…

**And All Your Weight, It Falls On Me… (XLIV)**

Three Years Later

Silas Shag was exhausted.

He and Fin just had spent the last eleven hours trying to crack a suspect, who finally broke down, but only after Silas had caught a fleeting microexpression, and trapped him in a lie.

Now, he was reading a file at his desk… or trying to. "I've just read the last sentence of file seven times, and I still don't know what it says." Silas said aloud to no one in particular.

Fin looked over his shoulder to the federal agent. "I feel ya man, I think I'm gonna catch a few hours in the crib… You should too, you look like hell."

Silas let out a dry chuckle. "You've been through the same hell I've been through. Go get some sleep, I've got to finish up this paperwork."

Fin shrugged, and made his way over to the crib. "Nice work, man." He clapped a hand on Silas' shoulder.

Silas smiled back at Fin, and then returned to his paperwork.

He tried to read the paper again, but he felt his eyelids drooping; they felt like they weighed a ton.

An annoying voice jolted Silas awake.

"HEY! Stabler! I've got a package for you!" Silas looked over to the doorway where a young police officer was holding a large package.

Elliot, who was seated at his desk, looked up at the kid. "A package?"

The kid nodded, smiling. "Who's it from, Stabler?" He held the box up to his ear and gave it a little shake.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Elliot stood up. "Watch it!" He pointed to the word 'FRAGILE' written on the side.

"Hm… Maybe if I shake a little bit harder…" The rookie gave it a harder shake.

The explosion was so blinding that the Silas couldn't have read the words on the file in front of him even if he was conscious.

XXX

Silas didn't know how long he was out. His head was pulsing, and his limbs felt heavy.

Dust. And smoke. He could taste smoke. The last time he tasted smoke was on 9/11, as he helped thousands of volunteers pull apart rubble to find…

He tried to open his eyes, but they stung. He weakly brought his hand to his face to rub his eyes. When he opened them, he was staring at the ceiling, large dust particles catching the light.

He went to roll over to push himself up but only he couldn't.

He lifted his neck to look up; piled on top of his legs were debris from his desk and part of the ceiling.

Silas let his head fall back on the ground, opened his mouth to yell for help, but just a dry groan escaped his lips.

_My phone…_ He thought. Silas moved his arm to his jacket and pulled out his phone and hit what he hoped was speed-dial number two.

He listened to the phone ring once, twice, three times…

"Silas?" Casey's voice sounded so good right now, like a cold glass of water on a hot day.

"C…ase…" he groaned, moving his free hand to his forehead, where he felt something wet; he looked at his hand only to see it covered in blood.

"Silas, what's wrong?"

"9…1…1…" he choked out. "Call…"

"What's going on?"

Silas could feel his eyes wanting to close. "Hel…p…"

"Where are you?" She only heard a low groan of pain.

Silas heard a shuffle and then a voice. "Hello? Anyone?"

The federal agent swallowed and mustered up all his strength. "Here!"

The footsteps moved closer and Silas felt someone next to him. "Silas, it's Fin, I'm goin' take your phone."

Silas let out another groan, and let Fin take his phone out of his weak fingers. "Hello? Casey? Yeah, it's Fin… I think a bomb went off… Silas is pinned under some debris I can't move him. Call 911, I'm going to stay with him… Call me back once you called them… I'm fine, just a few bruises and come cuts… I don't know… Alright… I will."

Silas heard the call end, and then Fin's voice. "Don't worry, Silas, help's on the way. I'm going to see if I can find anyone else, ok?"

"Ph…one…" he choked out.

Fin slid the phone into Silas' hand. "Casey's going to call back soon, ok?"

Silas nodded weakly. Fin looked over his friend; he was bleeding from a cut on his head, and his most of his lower body was pinned under debris, but what disturbed Fin the most was the blood slowly leaking out from under the twisted wreckage.

XXX

As soon as she got off the phone with the emergency operator, Casey ran to Alex Cabot's office, and burst through the door.

Alex looked up, thoroughly confused. "Casey, what's going on?"

Casey was breathless. "Something's happened at the 1-6. I think a bomb's gone off. Silas is hurt and I need to get over there. Tell Branch what happened for me ok?"

Alex stood up. "N-no, I'm coming with you." She looked nervous.

Casey nodded. "Fine, I'll drive, you text Branch. Let's go."

XXX

Silas was wide awake now, and feeling everything. Every time he moved, even just a little bit, pain would shoot up from his left leg.

"Silas, are you still there?" Casey's voice asked from over the phone.

Silas inhaled. "Just barely…"

"Silas, don't joke about that." Casey scolded. "You're going to be fine, ok?"

Silas let out a low groan; Fin slid the phone out of Silas' hand, and put it to his ear. "Hey, Casey, it's Fin, what's goin' on outside?"

Outside, Casey and Alex had managed to get behind the police barricade and were standing next to next to Munch, the only detective that was accounted for, asides from the other detectives inside. "I don't really know, here's Munch, he knows more than me." She tapped Munch on the shoulder, and handed him the phone.

"Fin?" Munch asked when he put the phone to his ear; when they had arrived on the scene, Casey had told Munch everything Fin had told her, and Munch commanded that she stay on the line with them, but he himself had yet to speak to Fin. "What's going on in there?"

"Silas is pinned, I've got Elliot here too, he got knocked back and hit his head against a wall, I think, so he's out cold. Cap's ok, he's tryin' to get another guy that's been pinned out. The door to get out is blocked by debris, so we're just waitin' on you all to dig us out."

"As soon as bomb squad gives us the ok we'll come in and get you." He reassured him. "Is anyone…?" Munch asked, his voice low.

He heard Fin exhale. "The kid who had the box when it blew up is for sure because…" Fin didn't like to get emotional, and now wasn't the time, but he couldn't help it. "Because we found a chunk of his arm halfway across the bullpen." He finished, voice tight. "Other than that, we've got some major injuries, but we think else everyone is alive. We still have some people unaccounted for."

Munch nodded, even though Fin couldn't see him. "Who?"

"Well, there's MacDouglas, Rodgers, Benson… Wait, wasn't she with you?"

"No, I thought she was still inside finishing up paperwork."

Alex looked over at Munch. "Who?" she asked.

"Olivia, she's unaccounted for."

Alex's eyes got wide. "Where is she then?" Casey noticed that the look on her face was the same one that she had when she heard that Silas had been hurt in the blast.

"That's the thing about being unaccounted for, Alex, we don't know where she is!"

"Stop with your damn sarcasm, John, and go find her!"

"Find who?"

All three of them turn around; Olivia, who was holding two cups of coffee, looked from them to the 1-6, horror on her face. "What the hell happened?"

Alex ran over to her, and threw her arms around Olivia. "You! Don't you ever be unaccounted for, ever again!"

Olivia hugged her back. "I'm sorry, sweetie…"

Casey and Munch looked at each other, putting two and two together. "Listen, lovebirds, you two can neck like horny teenagers later! Liv, we've got a job to do!" Munch yelled.

Olivia and Alex broke their embrace, quickly smiled at each other, and then Olivia made her way over to Munch, the same time as a man in a bomb squad jacket. "It's all clear, Sergeant."

Munch nodded and put the phone back to his ear. "Fin, we're coming in."

XXX

Le gasp!

Well, a few things:

Maybe you've noticed that I've made a few 9/11 references in this story, and that because a) I respect everyone who either gave their time and service or made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country and to their fellow human beings, so if anyone who lost anyone or who served their country on that day is reading this, I thank you and b) I was going to do a little one shot as a tribute to the victims of 9/11 involving Casey and Silas to also show just how far back their relationship really went, but it was a flashback kind of thing so it wouldn't really fit anywhere, so if I do it, I'll make it its own little oneshot.

Next, yes, I do ship O/A, I actually prefer them over E/O, is that weird? I see Elliot and Olivia as like brother and sister and not 'oh hey let's date' kinda thing.

Finally, this will be the last section, so review! Let me feel the love!


	45. …It Brings Me Down

…**It Brings Me Down (XLV)**

"I need… Stabler and… Novak-Shag." The principal looked over the freshman classroom, trying to find the two boys.

Near the back of the room, Eli Stabler and Issac Novak-Shag glanced at each other; per request of their parents, they had promised to stay out of trouble until after the end of the quarter, so they had no reason to go down to the principal's office. Well, except if…

"Mr. Stabler? Mr. Novak-Shag?" The two boys looked up. "You two need to come with me. Bring your things."

The two slowly rose, the whole room looking at them. Eli followed and Issac followed the principal down to her office.

"Issac, Eli." She said, taking a seat behind her desk. "Have a seat." Issac and Eli looked at each other. "You're not in trouble." She said with a small smile, sensing their caution.

Both boys let out a sigh of relief, and sat down. "Now," She inhaled. "There's no easy way to say this…"

"Say what?" Issac asked, leaning forward a little bit.

"Both of your fathers were involved in an accident." The principal said. "Eli, your mother is coming to pick you both up."

"What happened?" Eli's blue eyes narrowed.

"Everything will be explained when your mother gets here…"

"No, we have a right to know." Issac's green eyes narrowed as well.

The principal shook her head. "I wish I could, but I don't even know all the detai-" The phone rang and the principal picked it up. "You're mother's here." She nodded towards the door.

Both boys stood us and quickly left and almost knocked right into Kathy.

"Mom!" Eli hugged her. "What happened?"

Kathy hugged him back. "Come with me, I'll explain on the way."

XXX

"Mr. Shag, can you hear me?" the EMT kneeing by Silas' head asked.

"Yep." Silas growled, voice tight. The fire department had cut a hole in the wall to get into the bullpen, and the EMTs had gotten everyone, other than Silas, as they had been able to pull the other guy who was pinned out from under the debris, out and to the hospital.

"Now, Mr. Shag, we're going to start taking the rubble off you, ok?"

Silas could only nod.

"Mr. Tutuola," the EMT spoke to Fin, who refused to leave his friend. "I need you to start pulling debris off Mr. Shag."

Fin nodded, and leaned down to Silas. "Here, Casey's still on the line." Silas took the phone and put it to his ear.

"Silas, are you there?" Casey's voice asked.

"Yeah."

Fin walked over to the pile of debris. "Ready?" Silas nodded.

Fin grabbed a chunk of the wall and pulled it off; Silas let out a low groan. Another chunk, another groan. Soon Fin could see Silas' waist, then his thigh, then his knee. The process continued until Fin reached a large twisted piece of metal that looked like it used to be a desk. He went to pull it off, when Silas let out a terrible cry of pain.

"Stop! Stop!" the EMT shouted and rushed over to where Fin was standing, to examine the damage. "Damn…" He whispered.

"What, what?" Fin asked.

The EMT rubbed his forehead. "See that blood right there?" He pointed to a pool of blood that started under the twisted metal; Fin nodded. "When you pulled it up, even just a little bit, he started to bleed again. We take this off him, and he'll bleed out in two minutes."

Fin's eyes widened. "Well, what do we have to do?"

The EMT inhaled. "The bone's probably shattered, and the only reason he hasn't bleed out yet is the fact that the debris he's been pinned under is acting as a tourniquet, so the only thing to do is to… amputate."

XXX

"Ms. Novak, do you understand?" Casey could barely hear the EMT; she was so far away it felt like. "Ms. Novak?"

Casey nodded her head. "Yes. Do it. Please, just save my husband."

"I will, ma'am. Here, I'll put him back on the line."

There was a rustle and she heard heavy breathing. "Case?"

"Yeah." She could feel tears in her eyes.

"You know?"

Now they were rolling down her cheeks. "Yeah." She choked out. "Please come back."

"I will."

"I love you."

"I love you too." The line went dead. Casey looked at her friends with a sad smile.

"Now we wait." She said.

XXX

"Now, Mr. Shag, I'm not going to lie, this is going to hurt." The doctor who had been called in told Silas. "But you need to stay awake, ok? And try not to move."

Silas nodded.

"You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Alright, then , let's begin." There was the soft whirling of a saw, and then pain shot through Silas' whole being.

"SONOFABITCH!" Silas shouted at the top of his lungs.

Fin, who was holding Silas down by his shoulders, cringed at the crude operation being performed right in front of him. "Silas, you've got to try to stay calm!"

Silas' teeth were grit, and he was letting out a low growl of pain. Then the doctor hit the bone and Silas screamed. Sure he had been in pain before, but this was a whole new level of pain.

The whole operation felt like it was taking an eternity, until finally the doctor yelled up to Fin. "Alright! Pull him out!"

Fin hooked his hands under Silas' arms and pulled him out. EMTs swarmed the agent, wrapping the stub just under his knee, and loading him onto a stretcher.

Fin backed up and watched as they quickly got him out of the room. In mere moments, he was all alone in the devastated room.

XXX

Sorry I haven't updated in a couple of days, I've been a bit busy.

Wow, I really do must hate Silas, as I do keep blowing him up or things of that nature…Whatever, I know I'm a terrible person.

As I have said before, I have little to no knowledge of medical procedure, so I have no friggin' clue how one would perform an amputation in the field like this. Don't hate. But if you really want to, I guess you can hate me as much as you want in your review…

Oh, by the way Ranowa, I read your CO fic about the car… Benovak… Gee, wonder who you got that from… ;)

And EOsvu, I am very sorry for your loss, and you have now inspired me to write that 9/11 commemorative one-shot. It shall be done when I finish up with the original Shnovak.


	46. I'm Acquainted With Your Suffering

**I'm Acquainted With Your Suffering (XLVI)**

Alex tapped Casey on the shoulder, and offered her a cup of coffee. Casey smiled her thanks, took the coffee, and motioned for Alex to sit down. Alex sat down across from her, and gave her a reassuring smile.

Casey took a sip of her coffee, and smiled back. "You know, Silas and I were outed in this very waiting room. Olivia asked me how long we'd been seeing each other…"

Alex's smiled widened. "About two years."

Casey smiled back. "Congrats… not to pry, but since you and Silas we a thing for a while I thought you were straight…"

Alex waved her hand. "You're not prying. Silas was actually the last hope I had for dating men; he was really the only gentleman I've ever dated, so no other man could or ever will compare. Except Olivia. She's quite the gentleman… or woman… I don't know." Alex took a sip of her tea. "Don't worry, I'm not trying to steal your husband; I think I'm more into Olivia then I was into him anyway."

Casey nodded. "I'm glad you're happy."

Before Alex could say anymore, the glass doors leading into the waiting room opened, and Kathy, Eli, Issac, and Gwen all rushed inside; Casey stood up, and hugged her children.

"Mom, what happened?" Issac demanded. "Nobody's telling us anything!"

Casey inhaled. "I only know what Munch and Olivia have told me, but a child molester who just got out of jail sent Elliot a bomb in a package, after sneaking into the precinct pretending to be a janitor to plant three other bombs; only one of the three planted ones actually went off, as did the package one. There's been a number of injuries, but only one fatality. I think they're questioning the guy now."

Kathy looked around. "Where is Elliot?"

Casey pointed down the hall. "Check with a nurse, I don't really know. They've only told me about Silas."

Kathy put a hand on Eli's shoulder. "We're going to find him; see you soon." And with that she led him down the hall.

Gwen looked up at her mother. "What about Dad?"

Casey broke eye contact for a second. "He's ok, but…"

Issac crossed his arms. "What? Tell us."

Casey bit her lower lip and tried not to lose it right then and there. "He… He… They had to amputate his lower left leg because it was too broken to save."

The color drained from Issac's face, but Gwen just cocked her head to the side. "What does amputate mean?" she asked.

"They had to cut off his leg, dimwit!" Issac snapped at his younger sister; as soon as he said it, Casey could see tears forming in Gwen's dark blue eyes.

"Hey, stop that!" Casey snapped at her son. "It was just below the knee, so the doctors said that he should be able to walk almost as well as he did before, and they're fitting him with a very good prosthetic leg-"

"But he'll never be the same!" Issac shouted at her; he spun around and dropped into a chair near Alex. The blonde lawyer made eye contact with Casey and nodded towards the door; Casey nodded back and wrapped an arm around Gwen. "Come on, Gwen…"

As soon as the two of them were out of the room, Alex stood up and walked over to the seat across from Issac. "May I sit here?"

Issac glanced up at her and rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever."

Alex sat down. "I've known your dad for a very long time, you know."

Issac let out a little snort.

"When we first met, he was a young federal agent, full of spunk, ready to take on the world." The corners of Alex's lips twitched upward at the memory of the young agent. "Your dad has been through a lot in his life, more than anyone should ever have to go through, and when I came back he was… different, yet the same, all at the same time." Alex looked Issac right in the eye over the tops of her glasses. "Just because your father lost part of his leg, doesn't mean he's going to stop being your dad. He's still going to love you, and he's still going to be your dad. He just might be a little… Different."

Issac looked at Alex. "I know he's not going to stop being my dad, he just won't be… _my dad_ anymore. No more training for track together anymore, no more baseball, no more soccer-"

"You heard your mom, he'll be able to walk again soon." Alex leaned in and put a hand on his shoulder. "And because they cut it off below the knee, he'll be back to walking and running and playing soccer soon."

Issac raised an eyebrow. "You promise?"

Alex smiled. "I promise."

The door to the ER opened and a doctor walked out. "I'm looking for relatives to a… Mr. Shag."

Issac and Alex both stood up. "We are… Well I am." Issac said. "Let me get my mom… she wants to see my dad too."

XXX

"…and they taught me how to put it on and off." Silas was running his fingers over the cool metal of the prosthetic leg. "Not that I'll really want to, it's confortable, and virtually indestructible."

"Maybe not for bed." Casey smiled at her husband. "I'd rather not wake up covered in bruises."

"I don't kick!" Silas growled playfully at her. "Right?" He looked pleadingly at his children; Gwen was sitting on the bed, reading the hospital bracelet on his wrist and Issac was sitting in a chair next to Casey.

"I don't know!" Gwen cried; Issac just shrugged.

"No help, what-so-ever…" Silas rolled his eyes; a second later Eli had poked his head into the room. "Hey Eli, what's up?"

"Hi, Silas." Eli stepped into the room. "Glad to see you're feeling better."

"Thank you."

"My mom wants to know if Issac and Gwen want to sleepover tonight." Eli looked more at Casey than Silas. "Because my dad's going to go home soon, he only got a concussion, and since Silas needs to stay overnight…" Eli's voice trailed off, allowing Casey to finish the sentence.

Casey cocked an eyebrow. "Are you sure it's ok with both your parents?"

Eli nodded, a grin spreading across his face. "Yes ma'am."

Casey looked at her children. "You both ok with that?"

Issac stood up and flashed a mischievous grin at his best friend. "Of course." Gwen nodded as well.

Casey smiled. "Alright, fine."

Issac kissed his mother on the cheek. "Thanks, Mom." He walked over to Silas and hugged his father as best as he could. "Bye Dad, I love you and I'm glad you're ok."

Silas hugged him back. "Thanks bud, love you too."

Gwen hugged Silas. "I love you, Daddy."

"Love you too." Gwen hopped off the bed, hugged Casey, and then left with her brother and Eli.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Silas scooted over, and Casey slid on the bed with him, taking his face in his hands and kissing him zealously, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I was so worried…" Casey choked out. "I heard you on the phone and I thought you were dying!"

"I know, baby, I know, and I'm so sorry…" He ran his hands over her face and hair. "I… I didn't know what else to do… I just wanted to hear your voice one last time…"

Casey let out a sob. "Stop! Stop talking like that! You're here, you're alive, and that's all that matters!"

Silas didn't say anything; he just kept touching her, wanting to feel her, wanting to know that she was real.

"Issac was scared." Casey whispered when her crying fit had subsided. "He didn't say it, but he was upset. He was afraid that you… wouldn't be the same."

"I'm not." He glanced down at the metal leg.

Casey ran her fingers through his hair, her stomach churning when the pads of her fingers touched the stitches in his head. "How are you?"

"I'm missing part of my leg." He deadpanned. "How would you be doing?"

Casey kissed him. "We'll get through this… I promised."

XXX

I know this wasn't a great chapter, but whatever.

Alrighty then, the dreaded news that no one wants to hear: NEXT CHAPTER IS THE LAST CHAPTER! I know, I'm terrible, but it needs to end soon so I can start up my next thing, whether it be the 9/11 tribute, or the little thing I was going to do with their honeymoon in Italy (I might make that one a cross over with Assassin's Creed, because I'm an Assassin's Creed freak because I've got such a good idea for that one), or the Perspectives on Romance thing, I don't know let me know what you think about those ideas, or if I should just end it at the next chapter and never pick it back up again because you are all sick and tired of these two…

Let me know! So REVIEW! Pretty, pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top!


	47. You've Got the Love

**You've Got the Love (XLVII)**

Six Years Later

"Silas… Silas… Wake up…" Silas could feel a pair of lips pressing butterfly kisses to his neck and shoulders; he just rolled over again.

"No." He growled defiantly, eyes still closed. "Gwen's at a friend's and Issac's not due back 'till tonight… just let me sleep a little bit longer…"

Next to him, Casey smiled and moved her lips from his neck to his jaw and finally to his ear. "I used to beg you to let me sleep for five more minutes… What happened?" She accented the last word a little nibble to his earlobe.

"I realized sleep was good."

"That it is," She rolled him on his back so she was straddling his hips. "But, I can think of a few other things that are good too…"

Silas' blue eyes had opened a bit, and a sleepy half-smile spread across his face. "What about work?"

"What about it?" Casey asked, pressing kisses to his chest. "I'm my own boss now; I can be as late as I want."

Silas smiled, and in one swift movement had flipped their positions, so he was on top. "Lucky you; too bad some of us are still just lowly SSAs and not big bad EADAs…"

"It's not my fault that your boss hates you and the rest of your unit and will never promote any of you as long as she lives and breathes…"

"Well," Silas began to nip at her neck, leaving little tiny marks as he went. "With my knowledge of forensic procedure and your extensive understanding of the law, I could kill her and if I was ever questioned, you could represent me, give me an air-tight alibi…"

Casey felt the pads of his fingers tickling her sides and she couldn't help but giggle. "We could pull it off, if we really wanted to…"

"Mhm, we could…"He buried his face in her neck and bit down on her pulse point; at that Casey let out a little yelp of pleasure. "Then we could be late and not have to worry…"

Casey wrapped her arms around his back and pulled his body closer to her. "I think Cragen won't be too angry if you're a few minutes later than usual…"

"I don't think he will either…" Silas finally captured her lips in a searing kiss; Even though both of them were just past fifty, and in the twenty-first year of marriage, they both were still madly in love and still passionate about each other. Silas was still kissing her as he tried to find another condom from the stack he had tossed on the bedside table the night before, when Casey's cellphone started singing 'Dog Days Are Over'.

Casey pushed her husband off of her and grabbed the phone. "It's Gwen." She said as she answered it. "Gwen?" Next to her, Silas let out a frustrated sigh and fell back on the bed. "…Ok… Alright… I think he wants some CDs or something… ok… No! No you may not drink with us tonight! Non-alcoholic everything for you! Absolutely not… Yeah, life's not fair. See you soon." Casey hung up, looked out Silas, sighed, and rolled her eyes. "She's coming home in about an hour."

Silas rubbed his face. "Really? So we can't…?"

Casey just shook her head. "Not unless we want our seventeen year-old daughter to walk in here and see all of…" She waved her hand around the room to the scattered articles of clothing, mused sheets, and numerous condom wrappers. "This."

"Don't forget about this." Silas smiled as he pulled her down again.

"Oh stop it!" Casey wiggled out of his arms and rolled out of bed, "We need to get ready!"

Silas propped himself up on his elbows. "But I am ready!" He said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Casey rolled her eyes. "I mean ready for work. Go take a cold shower or something." Casey grabbed her robe and tossed Silas his. "I mean it, get your ass moving."

Silas smiled; she was adorable when she was pissed. "Yes, ma'am."

XXX

_Pad, clunk, pad, clunk, pad, clunk_. Gwen heard her father coming from down the hall, as his metal leg hit the wood floor and made a dull clunk sound.

"Hey, baby girl." Silas hugged Gwen and kissed her on the cheek. "How is Sarah doing?"

Gwen smiled back. "She's good."

"What'd you get your brother?" Silas asked.

"A Buddy Holly CD."

"You both have good tastes." Silas mused her strawberry-blonde hair.

_Click, click, click, click_. The other red-head in the Novak-Shag family quickly moved down the hall, putting in her earrings as she made her way to the kitchen. "Alright," Casey said as she grabbed her coffee off the counter. "Your brother is going to be home at around five, Uncle Cal and Aunt Gillian will be with him. About an hour later, Uncle Morgan, Uncle Spencer, Aunt Emily, Aunt JJ, Uncle Aaron, and Uncle David will be over, and please be nice and courteous to them all. We'll be home a little bit after that everyone else."

"And then we celebrate!" Gwen smiled at her mother innocently.

Casey shook her head. "Still no."

Gwen rolled her eyes and looked at her dad. "Daddy…" she begged.

Silas shrugged. "Sorry sugar. Just because your brother's legal doesn't mean we can let it slide."

Gwen rolled her eyes and all Silas could think of was how much she looked like Casey.

"I'm off to the DA's office, ok?" Casey kissed Gwen on the cheek. "Love you."

"Love you too, Mom." Gwen and Silas exchanged a look.

Casey grabbed Silas by his green tie and pulled him close. "Do not give in, do you understand me?" Her face was screaming _You say anything to her about alcohol and you will not get laid for a month, got it?_ So, Silas just nodded. "Good. Love you." She kissed him.

"Love you too." Both of them watched Casey walk off and out the door. As soon as the door closed Gwen went to open her mouth, but Silas just held up his hand. "No."

XXX

Silas glanced at his watch; it was almost six, almost time to go home.

"Hey, Shag!" Silas looked over to Elliot, who was on his cell. "Eli says the bar's clearing out, so we should head over now!"

Silas stood up, and pulled on his jacket. "Alright, I'll go let Munch know." He walked over to Cragen's old office, which was now Munch's new office; Cragen had retired about six months ago, and per request of the Chief of D's Munch had been promoted to captain, against his will.

Silas pushed open the door and poked his head in. "Munch we're heading out to O'Malley's."

Munch glanced up from the file he was looking at and sighed. "I'll be over as soon as I finish up this paperwork."

Silas grinned. "Hurry it up then, wouldn't want you to miss out on anything."

Munch nodded as Silas closed the door behind him. "Fin! Liv! Are we ready to go?"

Fin was pulling on his leather jacket, and Olivia was putting away something in her desk. "Yep, let's go."

XXX

"Silas," A slightly buzzed Cal Lightman clapped a hand on Silas' shoulder. "Your boy drinks like a champion!"

Silas took a sip of his whiskey and smiled. "Well, he is my son."

"That he is, my friend, that he is…" Cal saw a tray of shots make its way over to a table where Eli, Issac, Morgan, Emily, and Fin were seated, and made his way over, shouting something that sounded like "Hey! Wait for me! I want to get really drunk, really fast!"

A second later, Gillian was standing where Cal was. "Good thing I'm designated driver tonight." She chuckled. "Issac seems to be having a good time though."

"Sure looks like it." Silas smiled at his son; Issac was smiling and laughing and drinking and looking like he was having a good time with his aunts, uncles, and his best friend. "How's he doing at school?"

"He's constantly calling Cal for the answers to his tests or homework." Gillian laughed. "The University of Maryland loves him though, we've been to a few of his track meets and it seems like half the school goes just to see him run."

Silas smiled. "I'm glad he's having a good time. And thanks for keeping tabs on him."

Gillian smiled back. "I know you'd do the same for me, and it's the least I can do." She rubbed his shoulder and walked back into the small crowd of their friends. Silas surveyed the crowd: The table with his son was still doing shots; Gwen was talking to JJ; Alex and Olivia, who had just recently been engaged, were talking to Reid and Hotch; Rossi was listening intently to Munch as both of them sipped on their drinks.

There was one person Silas didn't see in the fray that he wanted have next to him more than anything else.

"Penny for your thoughts." A familiar voice crooned in his ear.

Silas turned to see Casey standing next to him, smiling and sipping on her club soda. Silas shrugged. "Just thinking."

Casey wrapped her arm around Silas', and rested her head on his shoulder. "Twenty-one years ago, Issac got tired of listening to legal motion and after legal motion, and decided it was time to get me out of the courtroom."

Silas smiled at the memory. "The defense attorney almost blew a gasket."

They both laughed. "Poor Issac…" Casey shook her head. "He's going to have quite the headache tomorrow."

"It's Shag tradition. The day after my twenty-first birthday was the worst hangover I've ever had."

"Hey, that's a tradition in the Novak household!" Casey smiled back up at him.

"Wow!" Silas exclaimed. "We should get married or something!"

"Hm…" Casey kissed him. "Maybe we should."

Silas wrapped both of his arms around her. "I love you, more than you will ever know."

Casey smiled up at him. "No, I think I know."

XXX

So…It's finally over… Wow. *falls over and dies*

I'd like to thank everyone who's been reading Shnovak since the beginning, you guys are all great and I love you all! Special thanks to 7Seven7, Ranowa, VampirePrincess and SilvrBlade because I'm pretty sure you all have been reviewing the most, and the silver metals go to EOsvu, SVUallday, and all my anonymous reviewers and anyone else I forgot; without you all, I might have stopped posting, and Shnovak wouldn't have become anything more than an idea floating about my head.

Well, I think I'll get crackin' on my next Shnovak project, either the POV on romance or the 9/11 tribute (Much to EOsvu's dismay, I already have most of the POV already written, but as soon as that's done I'll do the 9/11 tribute.)

Well… That's all folks! Thank you all so much again for reading! You all are fantastic!


End file.
